# territory

Pronunciation: US say "TE-ri-tor-ee" /ˈtɛɹɪˌtɔɹi/; UK say "TE-ri-tree" /ˈtɛɹɪt(ə)ɹi/

## Noun

1. A geographic area under the control of a particular government, ruler, or state.
   - Simple: Land that one government or ruler controls.
   - _The treaty transferred a strip of contested territory from one state to the other._
   - _Each province governs its own territory under federal law._
2. A large stretch or tract of land, such as a region, country, or district.
   - Simple: A large piece of land, such as a region, country, or area.
   - _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._
3. A subject, field of knowledge, or kind of experience, thought of as ground that one may know well or find unfamiliar.
   - Simple: A subject, area of knowledge, or kind of experience.
   - _Quantum computing remains uncharted territory for many engineers._
   - _Negotiating a merger took the lawyers into unfamiliar territory._
4. One 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.
   - Simple: A part of Canada or Australia that has fewer powers than a province or state.
   - _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._
5. A physical location or logical space that someone owns or controls.
   - Simple: A space, real or online, 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._
6. An area that an animal of a given species consistently defends against others of the same species.
   - Simple: An area that an animal keeps and defends against others of its kind.
   - _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._
7. The area or market assigned to a person or business to work in, sometimes exclusively.
   - Simple: The area where a person or company has the job or the right to do business.
   - _The sales rep drove across her entire territory twice a month._
   - _Each distributor handles a separate territory along the coast._
8. The section of a playing field or game board held or dominated by one player or side.
   - Simple: The part of a field or board that a player or team controls.
   - _The defense forced a turnover in their own territory._
   - _In Go, surrounding empty points converts them into your territory._

## Origin

It goes back to Latin "territōrium", which gave Middle English "territorie", the form modern English inherited.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/territory (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).