decentralized

When something is controlled or regulated by many separate groups rather than one main group, it's decentralized. Many fast food chains are decentralized, with different franchises, owners, and managers spread across the world.

In many ways, the United States is decentralized. Although there is a central, federal government (with a president and congress that govern the entire country), many laws and regulations are decentralized, controlled separately by the individual states. In a decentralized business model, control and leadership are shared by many managers at different locations, instead of having one boss making all the rules.

Definitions of decentralized

1. adjective

   withdrawn from a center or place of concentration; especially having power or function dispersed from a central to local authorities
   “a decentralized school administration”

   synonyms: decentralised

   localised, localized

   made local or oriented locally

   redistributed

   having population and industries relocated from urban to outlying areas

   suburbanised, suburbanized

   surrounded by many suburbs

   antonyms:

   centralized

   drawn toward a center or brought under the control of a central authority