Recentralize

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To redefine and modify a system in order to transfer authority back to a central governing body while reversing decentralization
2. To alter a framework by reinstating central control and redistributing decision-making power from peripheral entities back to a central point
3. To reorganize a structure by returning administrative powers to a central authority while dismantling decentralized functions

Etymology: "Recentralize" is a plain compound: the prefix "re-", meaning "again" or "back to a former state," attached to "centralize." The base word goes back to "centre," which entered English from Old French and ultimately from Latin "centrum," a term borrowed from Greek "kentron," meaning a sharp point or the point of a compass. "Centralize" builds on that sense of a single middle point to which things are drawn, and "recentralize" applies the same idea to a system that had once been pulled toward a core, then spread outward, and is now being pulled back. The word's usefulness lies in that implied history. A "recentralized" government or organisation is one that has previously decentralised, so the prefix carries an assumed earlier stage in which power was dispersed. Because it describes a reversal rather than a fresh arrangement, it is most often used in debates about reform, where one side argues that control should return to a central authority after a period of devolution.

Synonyms: reorganize, restructure, centralize again

Antonyms: decentralize, disperse