come with the territory

Idioms and Phrases

Accompany specific circumstances, as in You may not like the new coach, but he comes with the territory , or As the editor, you may not like listening to complaints, but it comes with the territory . This term uses territory in the sense of “sales district,” and the phrase originally meant that traveling sales personnel had to accept whatever problems or perquisites they found in their assigned region. Today it is applied in many other contexts. [Second half of 1900s]