federation

noun

fed·​er·​a·​tion ˌfe-də-ˈrā-shən 

1

: an encompassing political or societal entity formed by uniting smaller or more localized entities: such as

a

: a federal government

b

: a union of organizations

2

: the act of creating or becoming a federation

especially : the forming of a federal union

Synonyms

• alliance
• axis
• bloc
• block
• coalition
• combination
• combine
• confederacy
• confederation
• league
• union

Examples of federation in a Sentence

a federation of labor unions

a federation of women's clubs

the federation of the states

Recent Examples on the Web

Bwalya had since retired from playing and was now serving as the head of the Zambian soccer federation. —Ben Church, CNN Money, 21 June 2025

Saarinen apologised for the error via a formal statement from the Finnish federation. —Asli Pelit, New York Times, 21 June 2025

Implementing federation and identity orchestration to ensure AD, LDAP and cloud IdPs work together seamlessly. —Michael Engle, Forbes.com, 16 June 2025

The federation is in talks with carmaker Volkswagen to agree a sponsorship deal ahead of this year’s cycling Road World Championships, which are set to be held in Kigali in September, Samson Ndayishimiye told reporters at a briefing in London. —Prashant Rao, semafor.com, 9 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Rhymes for federation

• abdication
• aberration
• abjuration
• abnegation
• abrogation
• acceptation
• acclamation
• acclimation
• accusation
• activation
• actuation
• acylation

Kids Definition

federation

noun

fed·​er·​a·​tion ˌfed-ə-ˈrā-shən 

1

: a political body formed by uniting smaller bodies

especially : a federal government

2

: the act of creating or becoming a federation