Phrase guide

territorial waters

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

A country's inland lakes and waterways as well as the portion of its coastal oceans, seas, or other adjoining bodies of water considered to fall within the political boundaries and legal jurisdiction of that country.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only

Topics: geography, government, natural-sciences, politics

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

the waters surrounding a nation and its territories over which that nation exercises sovereign jurisdiction

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: high sea, international waters

Broader terms: body of water, water

Narrower terms: United States waters, U.S. waters

History

Etymology

No etymology was provided for this word.

Across languages

Translations

37 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chinese Mandarin: 領海 /领海 (lǐnghǎi) — belt of coastal waters
  • Danish: territorialfarvand — belt of coastal waters
  • Danish: søterritorium — belt of coastal waters
  • Dutch: territoriale wateren — belt of coastal waters
  • Finnish: aluevedet — belt of coastal waters
  • French: mer territoriale — belt of coastal waters
  • French: eaux territoriales — belt of coastal waters
  • Georgian: ტერიტორიული წყლები (ṭeriṭoriuli c̣q̇lebi) — belt of coastal waters
  • German: Küstenmeer — belt of coastal waters
  • Greek: αιγιαλίτιδα ζώνη (aigialítida zóni) — belt of coastal waters
  • Greek: χωρικά ύδατα (choriká ýdata) — belt of coastal waters
  • Icelandic: landhelgi — belt of coastal waters
  • Indonesian: perairan wilayah — belt of coastal waters
  • Italian: acque territoriali — belt of coastal waters
  • Italian: mare territoriale — belt of coastal waters
  • Japanese: 領海 (ryōkai) — belt of coastal waters
  • Kazakh: аумақтық су (aumaqtyq su) — belt of coastal waters
  • Korean: 영해 (yeonghae) — belt of coastal waters
  • Malay: perairan wilayah — belt of coastal waters
  • Norwegian Bokmål: territorialfarvann — belt of coastal waters
  • Norwegian Bokmål: sjøterritorium — belt of coastal waters
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: territorialfarvatn — belt of coastal waters
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: sjøterritorium — belt of coastal waters
  • Persian: آبهای سرزمینی (âb-hâ-ye sarzamini) — belt of coastal waters
  • Polish: wody terytorialne — belt of coastal waters
  • Polish: morze terytorialne — belt of coastal waters
  • Polish: wody przybrzeżne — belt of coastal waters
  • Romanian: ape teritoriale — belt of coastal waters
  • Russian: территориа́льные во́ды (territoriálʹnyje vódy) — belt of coastal waters
  • Spanish: mar territorial — belt of coastal waters
  • Swedish: territorialvatten — belt of coastal waters
  • Swedish: territorialhav — belt of coastal waters
  • Tagalog: lupaining dagatan — belt of coastal waters
  • Thai: น่านน้ํา (nâan-náam) — belt of coastal waters
  • Vietnamese: lãnh hải — belt of coastal waters
  • Vietnamese: vùng biển — belt of coastal waters
  • Vietnamese: hải phận — belt of coastal waters