territorial waters
plural nounDefinition of territorial waters
: 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
Recent Examples on the Web
The resolution reiterates the council’s call for Israel and Lebanon to support a permanent cease-fire and for the accelerated deployment of Lebanese forces in the south and the country’s territorial waters. — Washington Post, "UN warns ceasefire violations could spark Lebanon-Israel war," 30 Aug. 2019 Also on Tuesday, Italy’s hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini, banned a German humanitarian ship carrying migrants rescued off Libya from entering Italian territorial waters. — Colleen Barry, BostonGlobe.com, "Humanitarian search flights grounded by Italy," 27 Aug. 2019 After the turn of the century, mackerel escaping warming ocean waters started mass-migrating into Iceland's territorial waters. — Ivana Kottasová, CNN, "Icelanders can't remember a hotter summer. It's nice, and worrying," 27 Aug. 2019 Many years after the bloody fiasco that was our war in Vietnam, it was revealed that the Maddox was likely not on the high seas but well within North Vietnam’s territorial waters. — Kevin Baker, Harper's magazine, "The Deep State of Dementia," 19 Aug. 2019 Japan's Defense Ministry said the North Korean projectiles did not reach the country's territorial waters or its exclusive economic zone. — Kim Tong-hyung, Anchorage Daily News, "North Korea fires more projectiles as it rules out talks with South Korea," 16 Aug. 2019 The Italian government, for example, equips, trains and funds the Libyan Coast Guard and pays private militias to prevent asylum-seekers from reaching European countries’ territorial waters. — Paul A. Kramer, The New Republic, "The Harsh World of Offshore Borders," 8 Aug. 2019 Radio recordings capture the moment the Stena Impero was apparently forced into Iranian territorial waters by commandos despite warnings from a nearby British warship. — Imtiaz Tyab, CBS News, "Trump doesn't rule out talks with Iran amid increasing tensions," 22 July 2019 Iran’s semi-official Fars news agency tweeted that the Mesdar had left Iran’s territorial waters. — Amir Vahdat, Washington Post, "Iran says British tanker seized because of collision," 20 July 2019These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'territorial waters.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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