Word.ws English Dictionary

federalist

/ˈfɛdəɹəlˌɪst/

federalist noun: advocate of federalism.

Noun (1)

federalist (plural federalists)

  1. Advocate of federalism.
  2. (Canada) Supporter of the view that the province of Québec should remain within the Canadian federal system; an opponent of Québec‐based separatism or sovereigns.
  3. A covenantalist.

Adjective

federalist (not comparable)

  1. Of or relating to federalism, or its advocates.

Noun (2) capitalized: Federalist

Federalist (plural Federalists)

  1. (US, historical) A member of the Federalist Party, an 18th- and 19th-century conservative, liberal US political party which was one of two major parties under the First Party System.
    • No good Federalist has at present any wish to shake the fair and stately pillars of its fabric, and o'er its lamented ruins to erect the frightful columns of uncouth monarchy.1800, Caius, A few remarks on Mr. Hamilton's late letter, concerning the public conduct & character, of the president
    Antonyms:
    Republican, Democratic-Republican, Antifederalist

Antonyms of federalist

Forms of federalist

pluralfederalists
pluralFederalists
alternative form (obsolete)fœderalist

Plural of federalist: federalists

Origin of federalist

From federal + -ist.

From federal + -ist, formed in contrast with earlier anti-federalist.

Words formed from federalist

Questions about federalist

What does federalist mean?
Federalist means advocate of federalism.
What part of speech is federalist?
Federalist can be a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce federalist?
Federalist is pronounced /ˈfɛdəɹəlˌɪst/.
What is the plural of federalist?
The plural of federalist is federalists.

Words near federalist in the dictionary

  1. federalised
  2. federalises
  3. federalising
  4. federalism
  5. federalisms
  6. federalist
  7. Federalist Party
  8. federalistic
  9. federalists
  10. federalizable
  11. federalization

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: federalist (page history and authors); Federalist (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.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-federalist.wav.

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