territory
/ˈtɛrɪt(ə)ri
/- The leader decided that he would never lose power again and openly declared that he would accept support from anyone including bandits and evil rulers from other territories.
- It is binding on all States in all territories under their jurisdiction or effective control.
- As each of the rulers of these territories claimed he was the rightful successor, a bloody war that lasted for generations was fought.
Synonyms
- Most species defend small territories only during spawning.
- The off-center peak of this creature's shell allows the limpet to use it like a bulldozer to clear its territory of other animals.
- Breeding pairs defend large territories for nesting and foraging.
- Two teams of six players each defend a territory.
- Whenever his Wanderers team were awarded a free-kick in Leicester territory he placed two players in what can only be described as wildly offside positions inside the penalty area.
- The sales force went through major change in 1992 when regional business managers were appointed with budgetary responsibility for their territory.
- In terms of your own department, function, territory or responsibility, how can your company enhance its market share of some product or service?
- The accountancy/small biz software specialist now wants to be known as Best Software in the US, a territory now responsible for more than half group sales.
Synonyms
- The hikers start in tropical rainforest territory and travel through moorlands, alpine meadows and glaciers on the summit.
- In between were vast distances of open territory and rugged inhospitable land.
- In general, it was assumed in the early development of international law that control of natural resources depended on the acquisition of sovereignty over land territory and territorial seas.
Synonyms
- The national figures compare Years Three and Five reading and numeracy levels across Australian States and Territories.
- Many of the Australian States and Territories have enacted child welfare legislation during the past decade.
- Rock critics often like to elevate music to a higher plane, taking it beyond the realm of everyday experience and into quasi-mythical territory.
- Now this was unknown territory for our modest music scene.
- It's always interesting to be faced with completely unknown territory.
Phrases
go (or come) with the territory
Origin
Late Middle English: from Latin territorium, from terra 'land'. The word originally denoted the district surrounding and under the jurisdiction of a town or city, specifically a Roman or provincial city.
terrace from early 16th century:
In the early 16th century a terrace was an open gallery, and later it came to mean a platform or balcony in a theatre. A terrace of houses was originally a row built slightly above the level of the road—the first terrace of houses was mentioned in the 1760s, at first in street names like Adelphi Terrace. The source was a medieval French word meaning ‘rubble, platform’, based on Latin terra ‘earth’, the source of many other English words such as terrain (early 18th century), terrestrial (Late Middle English), territory (Late Middle English), and subterranean (early 17th century). A territory was originally the area surrounding a town and was subject to its laws. To say that something goes with the territory is to say that it is an unavoidable result of a situation. Territory here is probably used in the sense ‘the area in which a sales representative or distributor has the right to operate’, which developed in the US in the early 20th century. In Arthur Miller's play Death of a Salesman (1949), the central character Willy Loman tells his son that a salesman has to dream: ‘It comes with the territory.’ See also kop