federal
/ˈfɛdəɹəl/ adjective, noun, proper noun
Forms federals fœderal fœderall
- adjective Pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations.
- adjective Pertaining to the national government level in a federal nation, as opposed to state, provincial, county, city, or town.
- adjective (theology) Relating to covenantalism. “federal theology”
- noun A federal agent or (chiefly law-enforcement) official.
- noun (US) A law-enforcement official of the FBI.
- noun (US, historical) A Union soldier in the American Civil War.
- noun A supporter of federation.
- noun A member of a Federal Party
- noun (American Civil War) Someone on the Union side.
- proper noun A locality in the Byron council area, north-eastern New South Wales, Australia.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
Borrowed from French fédéral, from Latin foedus + French -al.
Webster’s 1913
- adjective Pertaining to a league or treaty; derived from an agreement or covenant between parties, especially between nations; constituted by a compact between parties, usually governments or their representatives.
- adjective Specifically: (a) Composed of states or districts which retain only a subordinate and limited sovereignty, as the Union of the United States, or the Sonderbund of Switzerland.
- noun See Federalist.
Etymology [L. foedus league, treaty, compact; akin to fides faith: cf. F. fédéral. see Faith.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “federal”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details