"federal case" meaning in English

See federal case in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: federal cases [plural]
Etymology: In the United States of America, courts with federal jurisdiction generally are for much more serious offenses than those whose cases are heard by local courts. Head templates: {{en-noun}} federal case (plural federal cases)
  1. (informal, idiomatic) An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation. Tags: idiomatic, informal Synonyms (something over-exaggerated): big deal, big thing, production, meal, song and dance
    Sense id: en-federal_case-en-noun-go1pE9Ii Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 54 46 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 56 44 Disambiguation of 'something over-exaggerated': 76 24
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see federal, case. Related terms: make a mountain out of a molehill
    Sense id: en-federal_case-en-noun-xfNci2QS Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 48 52 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 54 46

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "In the United States of America, courts with federal jurisdiction generally are for much more serious offenses than those whose cases are heard by local courts.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "federal cases",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "federal case (plural federal cases)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "56 44",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              76
            ]
          ],
          "text": "So I didn't put the toilet seat down — you don't have to make a federal case out of it.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              126,
              138
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Zachary Klaas, Time Tourists, page 122:",
          "text": "You think I'm some kind of codependent ditz overwhelmed by reality outside of Catholic school, and I'm not supposed to make a federal case out of it?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation."
      ],
      "id": "en-federal_case-en-noun-go1pE9Ii",
      "links": [
        [
          "exaggerated",
          "exaggerated"
        ],
        [
          "ordeal",
          "ordeal"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, idiomatic) An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
          "word": "big deal"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
          "word": "big thing"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
          "word": "production"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
          "word": "meal"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "76 24",
          "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
          "word": "song and dance"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "48 52",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "54 46",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see federal, case."
      ],
      "id": "en-federal_case-en-noun-xfNci2QS",
      "links": [
        [
          "federal",
          "federal#English"
        ],
        [
          "case",
          "case#English"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "6 94",
          "word": "make a mountain out of a molehill"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "federal case"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "In the United States of America, courts with federal jurisdiction generally are for much more serious offenses than those whose cases are heard by local courts.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "federal cases",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "federal case (plural federal cases)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "make a mountain out of a molehill"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English informal terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              76
            ]
          ],
          "text": "So I didn't put the toilet seat down — you don't have to make a federal case out of it.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              126,
              138
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2010, Zachary Klaas, Time Tourists, page 122:",
          "text": "You think I'm some kind of codependent ditz overwhelmed by reality outside of Catholic school, and I'm not supposed to make a federal case out of it?",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "exaggerated",
          "exaggerated"
        ],
        [
          "ordeal",
          "ordeal"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(informal, idiomatic) An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "informal"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see federal, case."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "federal",
          "federal#English"
        ],
        [
          "case",
          "case#English"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
      "word": "big deal"
    },
    {
      "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
      "word": "big thing"
    },
    {
      "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
      "word": "production"
    },
    {
      "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
      "word": "meal"
    },
    {
      "sense": "something over-exaggerated",
      "word": "song and dance"
    }
  ],
  "word": "federal case"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-16 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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