noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The fact or legal status of being a territory. countable, uncountable
2. 2
   the behavior of a male animal that defines and defends its territory wordnet
3. 3
   The pattern of behaviour in animals that defines and defends a territory. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   A pattern of human behaviour characterised by defence of a particular territory or area of interest. countable, uncountable

   "These criticisms had a whiff of territoriality about them."

Synonyms

All synonyms

turfdomturfdom

Example

More examples

"These criticisms had a whiff of territoriality about them."

Etymology

From territorial + -ity.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.