student asking question

Does the United States put the word "federal" to all government agencies? And what does "federal" mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

The word "federal" refers to the central government of the United States. Before the states were unified, there was no real central government and so "federal" refers to having unity and federation between the states through a central government. The word "federal" is not put in the name of every government agency since some agencies are regulated by states, however it is in a lot of them. Ex: The United States Federal Judicial Center. Ex: The United States Federal Trade Commission.

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