uncharted territory
14
6.8
- noun
- /ʌnˈtʃɑrtɪd ˈtɛrɪtɔri/
:
terreno desconocido
- This new technology has brought us into uncharted territory that could change our industry forever.
So there's no doubt, I think that we're taking the planet into uncharted territory.
- So there's no doubt, I think that we're taking the planet into uncharted territory.
- I'm just here to warn you that we are going into completely uncharted territory.
- desktop chips and sodium memory sort of uncharted territory.
- I'm, you know, I got, we get, we have to, we can't do this too fast because we're in in some ways uncharted territory.
- So you've been, for people who don't know, pushing jungle keepers forward into uncharted territories, saving more and more and more and more rainforests.
Examples
-
A diversity of voices, we hoped, would propel the conference into uncharted territory.
Academic text (2002) -
But now we're entering uncharted territory.
-
So, as of now, we're in uncharted territory.
-
HENRY: You have to understand, this is all uncharted territory.
-
We have to go into uncharted territory.
-
We are in uncharted territory.
-
It's uncharted territory for both of us.
-
If you think we are in uncharted territory this year, just wait until next year.
Blog text (21) -
Therefore, we are in uncharted territory and naturally wonder what will happen next.
Blog text (7) -
We are in uncharted territory now, and we need to create a new discourse.
Blog text (23)
Synonyms
10
3.7
An area or subject that is unfamiliar and not tried before
An area that no one has explored or seen before
Antonyms
How Familiar
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'new, unfamiliar, or involving unknown risks' follows directly from combining 'uncharted' (not mapped or explored) with 'territory' (an area or domain), so the overall sense is readily inferable from the parts. This spatial-to-figurative mapping is common across languages and a standard compositional metaphor, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents is likely to understand it.
Etymology
Uncharted territory comes from old maps: a place that was uncharted was not drawn on the map, so explorers did not know that territory and it could be dangerous. So, the phrase now means 'a new or unfamiliar situation'.