federal

Syllables: fed·er·alUK/ˈfɛdəɹəl//ˈfɛdəɹəl/

federal adjective: pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations.

Adjective

federal (not comparable)

Pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations.
- Yet the Romans, taking them [the Carthaginians] at an Advantage, vvhen they vvere in Streights; compell'd them, contrary to all Fœderal Right and Juſtice, by Nevv Articles, both to part with Sardinia, their Lavvful Territory, and alſo to pay them for the future, a Double Tribute.1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of Providence over Publick States”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel]...
Pertaining to the national government level in a federal nation, as opposed to state, provincial, county, city, or town.
- That this Assembly doth explicitly and peremptorily declare, that it views the powers of the federal government as resulting from the compact to which the states are parties, as limited by the plain sense and intention of the instrument constituting that compact, as no further valid than they are...1798, James Madison, Virginia Resolutions of 1798
- From April 1995 to May 1996, the Subcommittee on Crime of the House Committee on the Judiciary and the Subcommittee on National Security, International Affairs, and Criminal Justice of the House Committee on Government Reform and Oversight jointly conducted an investigation into the actions of the...1996, United States House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Activities of Federal Law Enforcement Agencies Toward the Branch Davidians
Relating to covenantalism.
- federal theology

Noun (1)

federal (plural federals)

A federal agent or (chiefly law-enforcement) official.
1. (US) A law-enforcement official of the FBI.
(US, historical) A Union soldier in the American Civil War.
A supporter of federation.

Noun (2) capitalized: Federal

Federal (plural Federals)

A member of a Federal Party
(US) Alternative letter-case form of federal.
- Cities and small towns alike, from Charleroi, Pennsylvania, and Springfield, Ohio, to Whitewater, Wisconsin, have seen significant influxes of migrants. Even major urban centers such as New York City, Chicago, and Denver have sought Federal aid to manage the burden of new arrivals.2025 January 20, “REALIGNING THE UNITED STATES REFUGEE ADMISSIONS PROGRAM”, in whitehouse.gov, archived from the original on 18 Mar 2025
(American Civil War) Someone on the Union side.

Proper noun capitalized: Federal

Federal

A locality in the Byron council area, north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.

federal meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Tagalog and Arabic

federal in Hindi

pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations: संघीय saṅghīya
pertaining to the national government level: संघीय saṅghīya

federal in Urdu

pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations: وفاقی wafāqī
pertaining to the national government level: وفاق wafāq

federal in Tagalog

pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations: sang-isahan
pertaining to the national government level: sang-isahan

federal in Arabic

pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations: فِدِرَالِيّ fidirāliyy, اِتِّحَادِيّ ittiḥādiyy
pertaining to the national government level: فِدِرَالِيّ fidirāliyy, اِتِّحَادِيّ ittiḥādiyy

More languagesFewer languages

federal in Indonesian: serikat
federal in Myanmar: ဖက်ဒရယ် hpakda.rai

Examples of federal in a sentence

Federal policy is constructed in complex ways, involving legislation, regulation, and lobbying.
There has been a cutback in federal subsidies. Rates have been increasing too.
It is congress's duty to oversee the spending of federal funds.

All 40 example sentences with federal

Synonyms of federal

Forms of federal

Adjective
alternative form (obsolete)	fœderal
alternative form (obsolete)	fœderall
Noun
plural	federals
plural	Federals

Origin of federal

Borrowed from French fédéral, from Latin foedus + French -al.

Words formed from federal

Phrases with federal

24 more phrasesFewer phrases

Questions about federal

What does federal mean?: Federal means pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations.
What is federal in Hindi?: Federal in Hindi is संघीय (saṅghīya). See Federal meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is federal?: Federal can be an adjective, a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce federal?: Federal is pronounced /ˈfɛdəɹəl/ (UK).

Words near federal in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: federal (page history and authors); Federal (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-federal.ogg.

Cite this entry: “federal.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/federal. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.