Idiom
turf war
Meaning
A fight or confrontation between two divisions or parties for access to resources or capital.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The two departments are having a turf war over the new office space.”
“The two neighbors start a turf war over the shared driveway.”
“The siblings have a turf war over the biggest bedroom.”
“The sales and marketing teams are in a constant turf war over which group controls the budget for social media ads.”
“Local street food vendors are caught in a turf war regarding who has the right to park their trucks near the park entrance.”
“The IT department and the operations team are locked in a turf war about who manages the new server hardware.”
“What began as a minor disagreement between the two regional managers quickly escalated into a bitter turf war that threatened the stability of the entire organization.”
Examples
simple
“The two departments are having a turf war over the new office space.”
“The two neighbors start a turf war over the shared driveway.”
“The siblings have a turf war over the biggest bedroom.”
contextual
“The sales and marketing teams are in a constant turf war over which group controls the budget for social media ads.”
“Local street food vendors are caught in a turf war regarding who has the right to park their trucks near the park entrance.”
“The IT department and the operations team are locked in a turf war about who manages the new server hardware.”
complex
“What began as a minor disagreement between the two regional managers quickly escalated into a bitter turf war that threatened the stability of the entire organization.”
Origin
The phrase is said to be a reference to the game of American football, where opposing teams confront one another on a field of grass or turf. While it is a popular theory for the origin of the term, the connection remains unproven.
Key words
Related idioms
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