Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1300-1400
Language: Latin
Origin: territorium 'land around a town', from terra; TERRACE

territory

 noun
     
NEW! See related topics: ANIMALSGOVERNMENTGEOGRAPHY
ter‧ri‧to‧ry W2 plural territories
1

government/military

[uncountable and countable]PG land that is owned or controlled by a particular country, ruler, or military force:
Hong Kong became Chinese territory in 1997.
occupied/enemy/disputed/hostile territory
The plane was flying over enemy territory.
2

type of land

[uncountable]HE land of a particular type
uncharted/unexplored territory
an expedition through previously unexplored territory
3

animal

[uncountable and countable]HBA the area that an animal, bird etc regards as its own and will defend against other animals:
A tiger has a large territory to defend.
A dog uses urine to mark its territory.
4

new or familiar experience

[uncountable] a particular area of experience or knowledge
new/unfamiliar/uncharted territory
The company is moving into unfamiliar territory with this new software.
Actor Patrick Bergin returns to more familiar territory to play a menacing killer.
5

business

[uncountable and countable]BB an area in a town, country etc that someone is responsible for as part of their job, especially someone whose job is to sell products:
a sales territory
6

come/go with the territory

to be a natural and accepted part of a particular job, situation, place etc:
I'm a cop - getting shot at goes with the territory.
7

land that is not a state

[countable]PG land that belongs to the United States, Canada etc but that is not a state:
the US territory of Guam
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.
 
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