federal case
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
A situation that is unnecessarily complicated or exaggerated
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
một tình huống bị phức tạp hóa hoặc phóng đại không cần thiết
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a legal case involving the federal government
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Making a federal case out of this minor issue is unwarranted
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “federal case” mean?
A situation that is unnecessarily complicated or exaggerated Literally: a legal case involving the federal government
Is “federal case” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.