Meanings
plural turf wars · alternative turfwar
- idiomaticA fight or confrontation between two divisions or parties for access to resources or capital.
It's a fascinating distinction, and one that also has the neat effect of moving the debate on from the contentious territory of the SF/litfic turfwar into that of value-neutral literary theory.
2014 July 18, Thomas Christie, Notional Identities: Ideology, Genre and National Identity in Popular Scottish Fiction Since the Seventies, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, →ISBN, page 202
Origin
The phrase may have originated as a reference to the game of American football where two teams confront each other on a field of grass or turf.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Polish wojna terytorialna
- wojna terytorialnaTranslations
Spanish lucha territorial, pugna pandillera
- lucha territorialTranslations
- pugna pandilleraTranslations
Cite this entry
turf war. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turf%20war
“turf war.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turf%20war. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “turf war,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/turf%20war.
Source: turf war on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.