federal 1 of 2

as in national
of or relating to a federation or to its central government A federal system of government distributes power between a country's central and regional governments. The President, Congress, and the Supreme Court are all part of the federal government of the United States.

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Federal

2 of 2

noun

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of federal
Adjective
With our federal government, no act of not borrowing subtracts from borrowing. John Tamny, Forbes.com, 21 June 2025 Cy 25 Training Fire has been burning on federal land managed by the United States Forest Service for six months. Ca Wildfire Bot, Sacbee.com, 21 June 2025 The decision was a major setback for the Adams administration, which had argued the jails’ problems could be handled in house, despite years of evidence to the contrary, as detailed in several dozen reports by the federal monitor appointed to track issues in the system. Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 21 June 2025 Trump and members of his administration argued that protesters angry over immigration raids in Los Angeles, many of whom gathered outside federal buildings in the region, were not under the control of local police. Dennis Romero, NBC news, 20 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for federal
Recent Examples of Synonyms for federal
Adjective
  • From 2006 to 2012, national home prices fell 20%-30%, largely due to the financial crisis.
    Wes Moss, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025
  • In August 2017, in the lead-up to national elections, Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly became New Zealand’s opposition party leader.
    Brent Lang, Variety, 16 June 2025
Noun
  • The Colorado quarterback had once teased being picked by the New York Giants, wearing custom red, white and blue cleats during a game when the G-men were the top candidate for the first overall pick.
    Jacob Lev, CNN Money, 25 Apr. 2025
  • Cameron directed Arnold Schwarzenegger in this influential action pic about a family man who also happens to be a G-man.
    Brian Tallerico, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • But gastrointestinal absorption of the drug can be thwarted by GI troubles, which the man had.
    ArsTechnica, ArsTechnica, 20 June 2025
  • The phone number is run by GI Rights Network, a coalition of non-profit, non-governmental organizations who provide free support to veterans and their families.
    Althea Legaspi, Rolling Stone, 8 June 2025
Noun
  • You’re automatically dubbed a narc, a kiss-ass, a too-cool.
    Brandi California, SPIN, 1 July 2024
  • The software, which would effectively act like a narc embedded on people’s iPhones, could have unintended consequences, critics said, despite Apple’s assurances that it would be used solely to stop child predators.
    Declan Harty, Fortune, 15 Oct. 2021
Noun
  • Ball also said the tracer fire – ammunition containing a pyrotechnic charge illuminating its trajectory – seen in the GHF’s footage is consistent with the use of machine guns.
    Jeremy Diamond, CNN Money, 4 June 2025
  • But this lower end of the galactic scale is still rather murky, in part because the stars that serve as observable tracers of small galaxies can form even smaller structures called star clusters.
    Phil Plait, Scientific American, 8 May 2025
Noun
  • Less than a month later, plainclothesmen arrested Nassar at a local tire store, and Munford took him into custody.
    Jason Schmidt, Glamour, 30 Oct. 2018
  • Hustling bucks and ducking the Third Division boys, those earnest young plainclothesmen assigned to the vice squad who work out of the 17th Precinct on the East Side.
    Gail Sheehy, Daily Intelligencer, 9 Sep. 2017
Noun
  • The tail of the airplane is seen stuck in a building at the site of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, Thursday, June 12, 2025.
    Hannah Parry Barney Henderson, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 June 2025
  • The study evaluated the total number of hiking trails, their popularity, and the average review of the tails, based on data from AllTrails.
    Opheli Garcia Lawler, Travel + Leisure, 11 June 2025
Noun
  • Middle Street and Lake Avenue were closed for several hours while investigators were at the scene.
    Justin Muszynski, Hartford Courant, 17 June 2025
  • Few people, other than the investigators, had been inside the Pulse building before this past week.
    Skyler Swisher, The Orlando Sentinel, 17 June 2025

Browse Nearby Words

fed
See all Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Federal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/federal. Accessed 24 Jun. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on federal

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!