territorial

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin territorialis, from Latin territorium; equivalent to territory + -al.

adj

1. Of, relating to, or restricted to a specific geographic area, or territory.
2. Of or relating to geography or territory.
   Rumania, Serbia, and Montenegro should be evacuated ; occupied territories restored ; Serbia accorded free and secure access to the sea ; and the relations of the several Balkan states to one another determined by friendly counsel along historically established lines of allegiance and nationality ; and international guarantees of the political and economic independence and territorial integrity of the several Balkan states should be entered into. 1918, Woodrow Wilson, Fourteen Points, pages 6–7
   Studies have narrowed the territorial focus to signage used in specific cities, townships, suburbs, precincts, etc. 2019, Li Huang, James Lambert, “Another Arrow for the Quiver: A New Methodology for Multilingual Researchers”, in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, →DOI, page 2
3. (often capitalized) Organized for home defence - such as the Territorial Army.
4. (biology) Displaying territoriality.

noun

1. A non-professional member of a territorial army.
   The territorials initiated about as many ground contacts (7,175) as the communists initiated against them (7,391) and more than those initiated by the army. As expected, the enemy attacked the territorials almost three times as often as it did the army. 2013, Ira A. Hunt Jr., Losing Vietnam: How America Abandoned Southeast Asia, University Press of Kentucky, page 166