nautical mile

noun

: any of various units of distance used for sea and air navigation based on the length of a minute of arc of a great circle of the earth and differing because the earth is not a perfect sphere: such as

a

: a British unit equal to 6080 feet (1853.2 meters)

b

: an international unit equal to exactly 1852 meters (6076.115 feet or 1.15 statute miles) used officially in the U.S. since July 1, 1954

Examples of nautical mile in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

As for grunt, the Zeelander 8 can be equipped with up to four Volvo Penta IPS-1350 engines that afford a top speed of 40 knots, a cruising speed of 32 knots, and a range of 2,700 nautical miles at 7 knots. —Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 23 Mar. 2026

The attack occurred about 15 nautical miles north of Sharjah in the UAE. —ABC News, 22 Mar. 2026

On Sunday, the ship was drifting about 20 nautical miles off the Sicilian island of Linosa, part of the archipelago that includes Lampedusa. —Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN Money, 16 Mar. 2026

The clash at sea, about a nautical mile off the Cuban coast, resulted in the death of several of the men in the Florida vessel. —Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 13 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nautical mile

• bibliophile
• epicondyle
• geotextile
• nucleophile
• aisle
• bile
• chyle
• file
• guile
• heil
• isle
• kyle

Kids Definition

nautical mile

noun

: any of various units of distance used for sea and air navigation equal to about 6076 feet (1852 meters)