Standard Lemma guide

federalism

noun · 4 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: F EH1 D ER0 AH0 L IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
  • CMU ARPABET 2: F EH1 D R AH0 L IH2 Z AH0 M Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A system of national government in which power is divided between a central authority and a number of regions with delimited self-governing authority.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The belief that such a system is superior to other forms of government.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

Covenantalism.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable, uncountable

Topics: lifestyle, religion, theology

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

the idea of a federal organization of more or less self-governing units

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: political orientation, ideology, political theory

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bheydh- Proto-Indo-European *-ós Proto-Indo-European *bheydhós Proto-Italic *feiðos Latin foedusder. French fédéral Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Proto-Indo-European *-mos Proto-Indo-European *-mós Ancient Greek -μός (-mós) Ancient Greek -ῐσμός (-ĭsmós)der. Latin -ismusbor. French -isme French fédéralisme English federalism From French fédéralisme. By surface analysis, federal + -ism.

Across languages

Translations

26 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Burmese: ဖက်ဒရယ်ပြည်ထောင်စုစနစ် (hpakda.rai-pranyhtaungcu.ca.nac) — system of government
  • Catalan: federalisme — system of government
  • Chinese Mandarin: 聯邦制 /联邦制 (liánbāngzhì) — system of government
  • Chinese Mandarin: 聯邦主義 /联邦主义 (liánbāngzhǔyì) — system of government
  • Dutch: federalisme — system of government
  • Finnish: federalismi — system of government
  • French: fédéralisme — system of government
  • Georgian: ფედერალიზმი (pederalizmi) — system of government
  • German: Föderalismus — system of government
  • Ido: federalismo — system of government
  • Indonesian: federalisme — system of government
  • Indonesian: perserikatan — system of government
  • Irish: cónaidhmeacht — system of government
  • Japanese: 連邦主義 (renpōshugi) — system of government
  • Kannada: ಸಂಯುಕ್ತ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ (saṃyukta vyavasthe) — system of government
  • Kapampangan: pederalismu — system of government
  • Kazakh: федерализм (federalizm) — system of government
  • Korean: 연방주의 (yeonbangjuui) — system of government
  • Polish: federalizm — system of government
  • Portuguese: federalismo — system of government
  • Romanian: federalism — system of government
  • Russian: федерали́зм (federalízm) — system of government
  • Serbo-Croatian: федералѝзам — system of government
  • Serbo-Croatian: federalìzam — system of government
  • Spanish: federalismo — system of government
  • Tagalog: pederalismo — system of government