FEDERAL Synonyms: 78 Similar and Opposite Words

federal 1 of 2

adjective

Definition of federal

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.

Related Words

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Dissimilar Words

Federal

2 of 2

noun

as in fed

Related Words

as in Confederate

Related Words

Dissimilar Words

civilian

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

The former Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star has served her federal-prison sentence. — Britina Cheng, Vulture, 28 Aug. 2026 This effectively singles out a small selection of our students, with the federal government putting our whole system at risk to target just a few individuals. — Derek Slap, Hartford Courant, 28 Aug. 2026 Alaska officials long called the mountain Denali; however, federal officials did not use that name until President Barack Obama aligned it in 2015. — Saman Shafiq, USA Today, 28 Aug. 2026 The federal report did not specify why the company was conducting the inspections. — ABC News, 28 Aug. 2026 See All Example Sentences for federal

Recent Examples of Synonyms for federal

Adjective

The Rattlers finished 4-4 in Southwestern Athletic Conference play in 2025, just two seasons removed from winning the Celebration Bowl and a Black college football national championship.

— John Devine, The Orlando Sentinel, 27 Aug. 2026
What started as a hangover fix in Las Vegas is now a national industry testing the edges of medicine, cosmetics and longevity science — and the next wave, built around a molecule called NAD+, is already reshaping the menu.

— Hanna Wickes, Kansas City Star, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of national

Noun

No one was giving the G-men an iota of a chance, but thanks to a brilliant game by New York's front four, the Patriots were clinging to just a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter.

— Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 29 May 2026
Jessica Hecht, playing one of the hostages, adds her typically off-beat depth, and I was most amused by John Ortiz as the FBI agent with the standard G-man voice and personality to match.

— Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 31 Mar. 2026

Definition of G-man

Noun

Gut Health Arugula is a prebiotic that feeds good bacteria in the GI tract, says Slayton.

— Embry Roberts, Martha Stewart, 20 Aug. 2026
But after certain gut infections, once the most intense symptoms have resolved, GI troubles can linger, turning into chronic bowel issues and pain.

— Erica Sloan, Washington Post, 12 Aug. 2026

Definition of GI

Adjective

The agency was a pseudo-governmental commission with no legal authority, staffed by grossly unqualified appointees, including a teenage programmer known as Big Balls.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 26 Aug. 2026
The National Archives and Records Administration, or NARA, is the federal agency that preserves and provides public access to the nation’s historical and governmental records.

— Stephanie Lam, Mercury News, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of governmental

Noun

This imaging test uses a tracer that attaches to PSMA proteins, allowing doctors to identify where prostate cancer cells may be located throughout the body.

— Lauryn Higgins, Flow Space, 15 June 2026
Many health care workers served longer, harder deployments than mine — Sierra Leonean nurses, Guinean contact tracers, Liberian community health workers — and carried equal or greater burdens, yet Americans rarely heard their stories.

— Krutika Kuppalli, STAT, 20 May 2026

Definition of tracer

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

Definition of plainclothesman

Noun

In many cases, the robot tail wags the living dog by tricking it—tricking us—into caring about obscure metrics, then gamifying the process of improving them.

— Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026
Then, in 2023, as NASA brought the worm out of retirement, the logo regained its place on the tail, and the insignia (meatball) was moved to the body under the cockpits.

— Robert Pearlman, ArsTechnica, 27 Aug. 2026

Definition of tail

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Style

“Federal.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/federal. Accessed 31 Aug. 2026.

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Synonyms of federal

adjective

noun

Example Sentences

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