To centralize is to organise control so that things are done or decided in one place. A government centralizes when the capital starts deciding what towns used to decide. A company centralizes when one office, not each branch, sets the rules.

To centralize is to organise controlcentralize指的是安排控制權， so that things are done or decided in one place讓事情在一個地方被做決定或執行。 A government centralizes政府在centralize， when the capital starts deciding what towns used to decide是指當首都開始決定原本由各城鎮自己決定的事情。 A company centralizes公司在centralize， when one office, not each branch, sets the rules是指規則由一個總部訂定，而不是各分公司自己訂。

It is a verb: it is something people do on purpose. You meet it in news, school writing, and office talk, not in chat about dinner.

It is a verb這是個動詞： it is something people do on purpose是人們刻意去做的事。 You meet it in news, school writing, and office talk你會在新聞、學校作文和公司對話裡遇到它， not in chat about dinner不會出現在聊晚餐的對話裡。

Though actually, you can also centralize things that are not political power — records, money, hiring, even a team’s files on one computer. The picture is the same: many places stop doing it; one place does.

Though actually, you can also centralize things that are not political power不過話說回來，你也可以centralize跟政治權力無關的東西—— records, money, hiring, even a team’s files on one computer紀錄、資金、人事招募，甚至是把一個團隊的檔案都集中放在一台電腦上。 The picture is the same畫面是一樣的： many places stop doing it; one place does原本很多地方在做的事，變成只由一個地方來做。

The opposite verb is decentralize, to send the deciding back out.

The opposite verb is decentralize反義動詞是decentralize， to send the deciding back out指把決定權再送出去。