federalism

English

Alternative forms

• fœderalism (archaic)

Etymology

From French fédéralisme, equivalent to federal +‎ -ism.

Noun

federalism (countable and uncountable, plural federalisms)

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.
   • 1995, Hudson Meadwell, “8: Quebec Independence and Secession in the Developed West”, in Sukumar Periwal, editor, Notions of Nationalism, page 140:

     Where consociationalism and federalism overlay one another, moreover, the continuity of the latter depends on the stability of consociationalism.

2. The belief that such a system is superior to other forms of government.
3. (theology) Covenantalism.

Synonyms

• (belief in the superiority of wide regional autonomy): regionalism, provincialism, statism

Derived terms

• anti-federalism
• cooperative federalism
• dual federalism
• ethnofederalism
• Eurofederalism
• federalist
• layer cake federalism
• marble cake federalism
• ultrafederalism

Translations

system of government

• Burmese: ဖက်ဒရယ်ပြည်ထောင်စုစနစ် (hpakda.rai-pranyhtaungcu.ca.nac)
• Catalan: federalisme m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 聯邦制 / 联邦制 (zh) (liánbāngzhì), 聯邦主義 / 联邦主义 (liánbāngzhǔyì)

• Dutch: federalisme (nl) m
• Finnish: federalismi (fi)
• French: fédéralisme (fr) m
• Georgian: ფედერალიზმი (pederalizmi)
• German: Föderalismus (de) m
• Ido: federalismo (io)
• Indonesian: federalisme (id), perserikatan (id)
• Irish: cónaidhmeacht f
• Japanese: 連邦主義 (れんぽうしゅぎ, renpōshugi)
• Kannada: ಸಂಯುಕ್ತ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ (kn) (saṃyukta vyavasthe)
• Kapampangan: pederalismu
• Kazakh: федерализм (federalizm)
• Korean: 연방주의(聯邦主義) (yeonbangjuui)
• Polish: federalizm m
• Portuguese: federalismo (pt) m
• Romanian: federalism (ro) n
• Russian: федерали́зм (ru) m (federalízm)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: федералѝзам m

  Roman: federalìzam (sh) m

• Spanish: federalismo (es) m
• Tagalog: pederalismo

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Irish: ^{(please verify)} feidearálachas m (principle)

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French fédéralisme. By surface analysis, federal +‎ -ism.

Noun

federalism n (uncountable)

1. federalism

Declension

Declension of federalism

singular only	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	federalism	federalismul
genitive-dative	federalism	federalismului
vocative	federalismule

Related terms

• federalist

Further reading

• “federalism”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025