territory

territory
/ter"i tawr'ee, -tohr'ee/, n., pl. territories.
1. any tract of land; region or district.
2. the land and waters belonging to or under the jurisdiction of a state, sovereign, etc.
3. any separate tract of land belonging to a state.
4. (often cap.) Govt.
a. a region or district of the U.S. not admitted to the Union as a state but having its own legislature, with a governor and other officers appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
b. some similar district elsewhere, as in Canada and Australia.
5. a field or sphere of action, thought, etc.; domain or province of something.
6. the region or district assigned to a representative, agent, or the like, as for making sales.
7. the area that an animal defends against intruders, esp. of the same species.
[1400-50; late ME < L territorium land round a town, district, equiv. to terr(a) land + -i- -I- + -torium -TORY2]
Syn. 2. domain, dominion, sovereignty.

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(as used in expressions)
Free Territory of Trieste
Yukon Territory
Territory of American Samoa
Pacific Islands Trust Territory of the
French Territory of the Afars and Issas

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      in ecology, any area defended by an organism or a group of similar organisms for such purposes as mating, nesting, roosting, or feeding. Most vertebrates and some invertebrates, such as arthropods, including insects, exhibit territorial behaviour. Possession of a territory involves aggressive behaviour and thus contrasts with the home range, which is the area in which the animal normally lives. Home range is not associated with aggressive behaviour, although parts of the home range may be defended: in this case the defended part is the territory. The type of territory varies with the social behaviour and environmental and resource requirements of the particular species and often serves more than one function, but whatever the type, the territory acts as a spacing mechanism and a means of allocating resources among a segment of the population and denying it to others. Some authorities also consider plants or animals that secrete repulsive chemicals into their immediate environments to be territorial, because the substances space individuals of the species apart from one another.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • territory — ter‧ri‧to‧ry [ˈtertri ǁ tɔːri] noun territories PLURALFORM 1. [countable, uncountable] MARKETING an area which is the responsibility of a particular salesperson: • His sales force s territory comprises Minnesota, the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin …   Financial and business terms

  • territory — ter·ri·to·ry / ter ə ˌtōr ē/ n pl ries 1: a geographical area belonging to or under the jurisdiction of a governmental authority 2: a political subdivision of a country 3: a part of the U.S. (as Guam or the U.S. Virgin Islands) not included… …   Law dictionary

  • Territory — Ter ri*to*ry, n.; pl. {Territories}. [L. territorium, from terra the earth: cf. F. territoire. See {Terrace}.] 1. A large extent or tract of land; a region; a country; a district. [1913 Webster] He looked, and saw wide territory spread Before him …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • territory — [ter′ə tôr΄ē] n. pl. territories [ME < L territorium < terra,TERRA] 1. the land and waters under the jurisdiction of a nation, state, ruler, etc. 2. a part of a country or empire that does not have the full status of a principal division;… …   English World dictionary

  • Territory — (engl., d.i. Gebiet), die officielle Bezeichnung eines innerhalb der Grenzen der Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika gelegenen, durch Congreßacte abgegrenzten Landesgebietes, welches nochnicht die zur Bildung eines eigenen Staates erforderliche… …   Pierer's Universal-Lexikon

  • territory — ► NOUN (pl. territories) 1) an area under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state. 2) (Territory) an organized division of a country not having the full rights of a state. 3) an area defended by an animal against others of the same sex or species.… …   English terms dictionary

  • territory — (n.) early 15c., land under the jurisdiction of a town, state, etc., probably from L. territorium land around a town, domain, district, from terra earth, land (see TERRAIN (Cf. terrain)) + orium, suffix denoting place (see ORY (Cf. ory)). An… …   Etymology dictionary

  • territory — *domain, province, *field, sphere, bailiwick Analogous words: region, tract, *area, zone, belt: limits, confines, bounds (see singular nouns at LIMIT) …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • territory — [n] domain, region area, belt, block, boundary, colony, commonwealth, country, district, dominion, empire, enclave, exclave, expanse, extent, field, land, mandate, nation, neck of the woods*, neighborhood, province, quarter, section, sector,… …   New thesaurus

  • territory —    by Kylie Message   In A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari privilege ideas of spatiality (evidenced by the privileged term of plateau ) and the geographies and cartographies of movement, presenting these as an informal antidote to history …   The Deleuze dictionary

  • territory —    by Kylie Message   In A Thousand Plateaus, Deleuze and Guattari privilege ideas of spatiality (evidenced by the privileged term of plateau ) and the geographies and cartographies of movement, presenting these as an informal antidote to history …   The Deleuze dictionary

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