American Heritage Dictionary Entry: federal HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key. Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window. guide to the dictionary THE USAGE PANEL The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions. The Panelists NEED HELP SOLVING A CROSSWORD PUZZLE? Go to our Crossword Puzzle Solver and type in the letters that you know, and the Solver will produce a list of possible solutions. -- AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android. THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more. OPEN DICTIONARY PROJECT Share your ideas for new words and new meanings of old words! Start Sharing Now! -- See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series! Find out more! INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES? Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com fed·er·al (fĕdər-əl, fĕdrəl) Share: Tweet adj. 1. Of, relating to, or being a form of government in which a union of states recognizes the sovereignty of a central authority while retaining certain residual powers of government. 2. Of or constituting a form of government in which sovereign power is divided between a central authority and a number of constituent political units. 3. Of or relating to the central government of a federation as distinct from the governments of its member units. 4. Favorable to or advocating federation: The senator's federal leanings were well known. 5. Relating to or formed by a treaty or compact between constituent political units. 6. Federal a. Of, relating to, or supporting Federalism or the Federalist Party. b. Of, relating to, or loyal to the Union cause during the American Civil War. 7. often Federal Of, relating to, or being the central government of the United States. 8. Federal Relating to or characteristic of a style of architecture, furniture, and decoration produced in the United States especially in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and characterized by adaptations of classical forms combined with typically American motifs. n. 1. Federal a. A supporter of the Union during the American Civil War, especially a Union soldier. b. A Federalist. 2. often Federal A federal agent or official. [From Latin foedus, foeder-, league, treaty; see bheidh- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.] feder·al·ly adv. (click for a larger image)Federal 1819 Custom House, Salem Maritime National Historic Site Salem, Massachusetts The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved. Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices: Indo-European Roots Semitic Roots The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. 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