territory

noun (plural territories)

• 1an area of land under the jurisdiction of a ruler or state:the government was prepared to give up the nuclear weapons on its territory [mass noun]:sorties into enemy territory
• Zoology an area defended by an animal or group of animals against others of the same sex or species: male blackbirds try to attract as many females to their territory as possible
• an area defended by a team or player in a game or sport.
• an area in which one has certain rights or for which one has responsibility with regard to a particular type of activity:don’t go committing murders on my territory
• [mass noun, with adjective or noun modifier] land with a specified characteristic:woodland territory

• 2 (Territory) (especially in the US, Canada, or Australia) an organized division of a country that is not yet admitted to the full rights of a state.

• 3 [mass noun] an area of knowledge, activity, or experience:the contentious territory of clinical standards the way she felt now—she was in unknown territory