federal
part of speech
adjective (federal); noun federation
meaning for a pupil
1) A federal country is made of several states or provinces that run some things themselves but share one national government; the USA, Canada, Australia and Germany are federal. tree →
2) Federal means belonging to that national government, as in federal laws, federal taxes or the federal police (the FBI in the USA). tree →
3) (US, informal) «Make a federal case out of it» means make a big fuss about something small. tree →
sense in the lessons
In social studies it explains how countries are organised: in the USA the federal government is in Washington, while each state has its own government too. In news it shows something is national, not local. Phrases: «federal government», «federal law», «federal holiday», «federal election».
examples
- The USA has a federal government and fifty state governments. tree →
- Australia holds a federal election every few years. tree →
- Canada is a federal country with ten provinces. tree →
- Stealing mail is a federal crime in the USA. tree →
- A federal holiday means government offices are closed. tree →
- The federal capital of Australia is Canberra. tree →
- The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation. tree →
- (US, informal) It was just a spilled drink, don't make a federal case out of it. tree →
note
Adjective only; no plural. Say «FED-er-ul». The UK is not a federal country in the usual sense. A federation is the whole group of states joined together.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «federal» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.