federal case
federal case noun: an exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation.
Noun
federal case (plural federal cases)
- An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation.
- So I didn't put the toilet seat down — you don't have to make a federal case out of it.
- You think I'm some kind of codependent ditz overwhelmed by reality outside of Catholic school, and I'm not supposed to make a federal case out of it?2010, Zachary Klaas, Time Tourists, page 122
- Synonyms:
- big deal, big thing, production, meal, song and dance
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see federal, case.
Synonyms of federal case
- big deal
- big thing
- production
- meal
- song and dance
Forms of federal case
| plural | federal cases |
|---|
Origin of federal case
In the United States of America, courts with federal jurisdiction generally are for much more serious offenses than those whose cases are heard by local courts.
Questions about federal case
- What does federal case mean?
- Federal case means an exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation.
- What part of speech is federal case?
- Federal case is a noun.
- What is the plural of federal case?
- The plural of federal case is federal cases.
Words near federal case in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: federal case (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:
Cite this entry: “federal case.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/federal_case. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.