territorial waters
plural noun
: the waters under the sovereign jurisdiction of a nation or state including both marginal sea and inland waters
Examples of territorial waters in a Sentence
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Any country can allow deep-sea mining in its own territorial waters, roughly up to 200 nautical miles from shore, and companies are already lining up to mine U.S. waters.
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Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw, USA Today, 26 Apr. 2025
The assaults forced Russia’s fleet to retreat to the eastern part of the sea, far from Ukrainian shores, allowing Ukraine to secure a new shipping corridor that hugs its coast before entering the territorial waters of NATO members.
—Constant Méheut, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
The island country owns 26 out of the approximately 100 cages that are scattered among Spain, Italy, Croatia and Portugal, despite having the most limited territorial waters of all European Union countries bordering the Mediterranean — its waters are 20 times smaller than Italy’s .
—Julia Amberger, Nanni Fontana, Marzio Mian, & Nicola Scevola (tr. Elettra Pauletto), The Dial, 3 Apr. 2025
The latest position puts the Chinese vessel outside the Australian territorial waters, which extend up to 12 nautical miles [13.8 miles] from its coasts, but within the country's 200-nautical-mile [230 miles] exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a Newsweek map shows.
—Lee Habeeb, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Apr. 2025
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Ernest Scheyder and Jarrett Renshaw, USA Today, 26 Apr. 2025
The assaults forced Russia’s fleet to retreat to the eastern part of the sea, far from Ukrainian shores, allowing Ukraine to secure a new shipping corridor that hugs its coast before entering the territorial waters of NATO members.
—Constant Méheut, New York Times, 7 Apr. 2025
The island country owns 26 out of the approximately 100 cages that are scattered among Spain, Italy, Croatia and Portugal, despite having the most limited territorial waters of all European Union countries bordering the Mediterranean — its waters are 20 times smaller than Italy’s .
—Julia Amberger, Nanni Fontana, Marzio Mian, & Nicola Scevola (tr. Elettra Pauletto), The Dial, 3 Apr. 2025
The latest position puts the Chinese vessel outside the Australian territorial waters, which extend up to 12 nautical miles [13.8 miles] from its coasts, but within the country's 200-nautical-mile [230 miles] exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a Newsweek map shows.
—Lee Habeeb, MSNBC Newsweek, 3 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for territorial waters
Cite this Entry
“Territorial waters.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/territorial%20waters. Accessed 3 May. 2025.
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