territory
Pluralterritories
- 1A geographic area under the control of a particular government, ruler, or state.
The treaty transferred a strip of contested territory from one state to the other.
Each province governs its own territory under federal law.
UsageOften without a for amounts of land: armies gain, lose or occupy territory; a territory is one particular area.
Similardomain, jurisdiction
Note
Land seen through the lens of power rather than geography, the sense behind talk of conquest and treaties. The Spectator of 1711 complains that Lewis of France was raised by men who made "extent of territory the most glorious instance of power": a mass noun, measured in amounts gained or lost. In the plain sense of land an empty desert counts as territory; here it counts only once someone governs it.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 2 facts
- The cited passage appeared in The Spectator in 1711, specifically No. 139, dated 9 August 1711. gutenberg.org
- The Spectator criticizes the men attending Lewis of France during his infancy for treating territorial extent as the most glorious instance of power; the quoted wording is accurate, with capitalization modernized. gutenberg.org
- 2A large stretch or tract of land, such as a region, country, or district.
The wagon train crossed vast stretches of unsettled territory before winter set in.
Much of the territory between the two ranges remained unmapped for decades.
UsageWithout a for land in general (miles of territory, unknown territory); a territory picks out one particular area.
- 3A subject, field of knowledge, or kind of experience, thought of as ground that one may know well or find unfamiliar.
Quantum computing remains uncharted territory for many engineers.
Negotiating a merger took the lawyers into unfamiliar territory.
UsageMost often in uncharted, unfamiliar or new territory, for a situation someone has not faced before.
Similarground, terrain, area, field, domain
Note
In Hadley Hoover's Uncharted Territory (2001) the phrase describes a friendship moving to a new footing. Laura Simms (2011) extends her storytelling "to the territory of compassionate action."
- 4One of the federal regions of Canada or Australia that has fewer powers than a province or state and was created by an act of Parliament, not the constitution.
The federal government devolved several powers to the territory over the past decade.
Each northern territory sends a single member to the House of Commons.
Note
In Canada the word names a rank in the federation, one step below a province, and the two terms are not interchangeable: a province's standing rests on the Constitution, a territory's on an act of Parliament. Beware the plural in Northwest Territories, which names one territory, not several. Yukon and Nunavut carry no such word in their names at all.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- Canadian territories have a different, more limited constitutional status than provinces. en.wikipedia.org
- Provincial powers have constitutional standing, whereas territorial powers are delegated under Parliament's authority. canada.ca
- Territorial governments derive their existence and powers from federal legislation rather than constitutional entrenchment. yukonassembly.ca
- Northwest Territories names one Canadian territory despite its plural form. en.wikipedia.org
- The other two territories are officially named Yukon and Nunavut, without 'Territory' or 'Territories' in their names. nos-langues.canada.ca
- 5A physical location or logical space that someone owns or controls.
The forum moderators treated the subreddit as their own territory.
Each gang claimed a few blocks of the city as its territory.
Note
Ground that belongs to someone in everyday life, such as a desk, a place at the table or a corner of the home, and the usual phrase is personal territory. In Tabletops: Horizontal Interactive Displays (2010), people ask before taking an item from someone else's personal territory, and The Politics of Domestic Consumption suggests a dressing-table can serve as one. The sense carries the animal's defended ground into human settings.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Tabletops - Horizontal Interactive Displays was first published in 2010. link.springer.com
- The book describes people asking for items located in another person's personal territory. cs.uwaterloo.ca
- The Politics of Domestic Consumption suggests that a dressing-table can constitute personal territory. en.wiktionary.org
- Human territoriality extends a concept used in the study of animal behaviour. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- 6An area that an animal of a given species consistently defends against others of the same species.
A male songbird sings at dawn to advertise its territory to intruders.
A pair of eagles may return to the same nesting territory year after year.
Note
An ecologist's term with a narrow test: a space counts only if it is consistently defended, usually against members of the same species and occasionally against animals of other kinds. Animals establish, hold and advertise territories, often by song or display. A patch an animal merely uses, without defending it, falls outside the term.
Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts
- Defence of an area is a defining feature of animal territory. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Territorial defence usually targets members of the same species, but interspecific territoriality also occurs; excluding animals of other kinds categorically is incorrect. escholarship.org
- Animals establish, hold and advertise territories, including through vocalizations and displays. en.wikipedia.org
- Merely using an area does not make it a defended territory. ncstate.pressbooks.pub
- 7The area or market assigned to a person or business to work in, sometimes exclusively.
The sales rep drove across her entire territory twice a month.
Each distributor handles a separate territory along the coast.
UsageOften in sales territory; a rep covers or works a territory.
Similarpatch
Note
An area assigned for work or business: the salesperson's patch, the distributor's stretch of coast. The set phrase is sales territory, and Hisrich and Jackson's Selling and Sales Management treats designing one well as a matter of saving travel time. Some territories are also exclusive, an area where one distributor alone may sell a supplier's products, so the word can name a right as well as a duty.
- 8The section of a playing field or game board held or dominated by one player or side.
The defense forced a turnover in their own territory.
In Go, surrounding empty points converts them into your territory.
UsageOften without a for field position: gain territory, play in enemy territory, in their own territory.
Note
Tom Fordyce's 2011 BBC Sport report on England against Scotland has Scotland holding "the territory and the momentum." In rugby, having the territorial advantage means keeping play mainly in the opponents' half, even without leading on the scoreboard. In board games such as Go, the same word names the points a player has secured.
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of territory apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
It goes back to Latin "territōrium", which gave Middle English "territorie", the form modern English inherited.