Meaning

2 senses

  1. (idiomatic, informal)An exaggerated ordeal; excessive fuss or indignation about some situation.

    So I didn't put the toilet seat down — you don't have to make a federal case out of it.

  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see federal, case.

Examples

1 sentences

  1. Don't make a federal case out of it!

    Nuel · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FR · B2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Origin

In the United States of America, courts with federal jurisdiction generally are for much m

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.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: federal cases
Singularfederal case
Pluralfederal cases

regular

Synonyms

5 synonyms
something over-exaggerated:productionA2mealA1big dealsong and dancebig thing

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
fecesfecklessfederalB2federationfedorafeds

Dictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.

federal case — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto