fleet

1 of 3

noun

1
: a number of warships under a single command
specifically : an organization of ships and aircraft under the command of a flag officer
2
: group sense 2a
especially : a group (as of ships, planes, or trucks) operated under unified control

fleet

2 of 3

adjective

1
: swift in motion : nimble
2
fleetly adverb
fleetness noun

fleet

3 of 3

verb

fleeted; fleeting; fleets

intransitive verb

1
a
: to fade away : vanish
b
archaic : flow
2
[fleet entry 2] : to fly swiftly
clouds fleeting across the sky
3
obsolete : drift

transitive verb

: to cause (time) to pass usually quickly or imperceptibly
many young gentlemen … fleet the time carelesslyWilliam Shakespeare
Choose the Right Synonym for fleet

fast, rapid, swift, fleet, quick, speedy, hasty, expeditious mean moving, proceeding, or acting with celerity.

fast and rapid are very close in meaning, but fast applies particularly to the thing that moves

fast horses

and rapid to the movement itself.

rapid current

swift suggests great rapidity coupled with ease of movement.

returned the ball with one swift stroke

fleet adds the implication of lightness and nimbleness.

fleet runners

quick suggests promptness and the taking of little time.

a quick wit

speedy implies quickness of successful accomplishment

speedy delivery of mail

and may also suggest unusual velocity.

hasty suggests hurry and precipitousness and often connotes carelessness.

a hasty inspection

expeditious suggests efficiency together with rapidity of accomplishment.

the expeditious handling of an order

Examples of fleet in a Sentence

Noun He was the commander of the Pacific fleet. The company has a large fleet of delivery trucks. Adjective a jewel thief said to be light of heart and fleet of foot
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Spirit said Wi-Fi is available on most of the company’s aircraft, but some Airbus A319 aircraft and planes that have just joined the carrier’s fleet are not equipped with Internet. Alison Fox, Travel + Leisure, 12 Mar. 2024 A number of cities have bought Beam Global’s portable stations to charge their municipal electric fleets, including San Diego and New York City. Rob Nikolewski, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Mar. 2024 This has made the country’s drone fleet more predictable, with less variation in tactics and type. Yurii Shyvala, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2024 Electrify America hired Gig Car Share, whose parent company is roadside assistance giant American Automobile Association (AAA), to operate a fleet of 260 shared EVs in Sacramento, considered the largest of its kind in the country. Ari Plachta, Sacramento Bee, 7 Mar. 2024 Today, the competition among miners is such that large fleets of specialized, energy-guzzling hardware are necessary to stand a chance of winning. Joel Khalili, WIRED, 6 Mar. 2024 The new models are also the first of Anthropic’s fleet that can process visual formats, including photos, charts, and graphs, so enterprise users can now use its models to read through PDFs and presentation slides, Anthropic said. Britney Nguyen, Quartz, 4 Mar. 2024 American’s existing fleets of A319s and A320s averaged 19.7 and 22.7 years, respectively, at the end of 2023. Mary Schlangenstein, Fortune, 4 Mar. 2024 Upcoming Races The Saint Barth Bucket Race, held for sailing yachts of 100 feet or more with a few grandfathered in smaller 90-foot boats, is scheduled for March 21-24, and always draws an elite fleet of boats. Kathleen Turner, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
Adjective
Car rental companies divested themselves of many of their fleet cars in the early days of the pandemic, and were not able to quickly replenish them due to microchip shortages and supply chain problems among automakers. William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 23 Aug. 2023 Or lovers-to-be, for the bulk of its cheerfully fleet 82-minute runtime — not that Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia’s fast-talking script leaves us in any doubt as to their destiny from their first sweetly awkward meet-cute. Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Mar. 2023 Some diehard Romantics might object that Hough is too fleet in his approach. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022 Building in predictive alerts to provide real time coaching is what is needed, and companies like Nauto are innovating rapidly in fleet predictive intelligence looking ahead vs analyzing statistics alone. Cindy Gordon, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021 Additionally, Ultium Charge 360 will help support home charging and provide non-fleet drivers access to more than 60,000 public places to charge. Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 16 July 2021 During the orchestral prelude, Daniel Barenboim drew a crisp, clean and fleet performance from the players. New York Times, 13 Mar. 2020 Burns thinks his company can compete for a share of the electric vehicle market by being quicker to adjust to technology and by targeting commercial, fleet customers who want more than what conventional trucks can supply. BostonGlobe.com, 8 Nov. 2019 Burns thinks his company can compete for a share of the electric vehicle market by being quicker to adjust to new technology and by targeting commercial, fleet customers who want more than what conventional trucks can supply. Washington Post, 7 Nov. 2019
Verb
The economic model targets fleeting attention spans, making layered artistry challenging. Anto Dotcom, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2023 Songs come on the radio and instantly transport you back to a specific summer and that unforgettable vacation, fleeting romance or questionable decision that came with it. Joey Morona, cleveland, 19 Sep. 2023 While the two-day sale unfolds over July 11 and 12, our entire team is taking advantage of the limited-time fashion deals, fleeting Apple tech discounts, and rare sneaker sales that make Prime Day an unofficial holiday. Harper's BAZAAR, 11 July 2023 City residents and artists feel a sense of loss knowing that the odds of a momentary sighting or fleeting run-in with Ms. Ono are now even lower, and some have started writing tributes to her time in New York in blogs and small outlets. Anna Kodé, New York Times, 21 July 2023 The costs Afghanistan is enduring because of his edicts have given rise to persistent rumors of splits within the government—and even, this year, some notable if fleeting public evidence of internal dissent. Steve Coll, The New York Review of Books, 1 June 2023 No detox is open for intake in the evening or on the weekends, limiting the sometimes fleeting windows for people seeking sobriety to get help. Mallory Moench, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Apr. 2023 The brothers are betting that their brand of versatile, distinctive pop music will win out over clever marketing strategies and fleeting social media fads. Brady Brickner-Wood, SPIN, 12 Apr. 2023 Some have also questioned how fleeting this new role might be: As the AI advances, won’t the humans just be training themselves out of a job? Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fleet.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

Middle English flete, from Old English flēot ship, from flēotan

Adjective

probably from fleet entry 3

Verb

Middle English fleten, from Old English flēotan; akin to Old High German fliozzan to float, Old English flōwan to flow

First Known Use

Noun

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Adjective

circa 1529, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Verb

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 3

Time Traveler
The first known use of fleet was before the 12th century

Dictionary Entries Near fleet

Cite this Entry

“Fleet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fleet. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

fleet

1 of 2 noun
1
: a group of warships under one command
2
: a group of ships or vehicles that move together or are under one management
a fleet of taxis
a fishing fleet

fleet

2 of 2 adjective
: very swift
fleet of foot
fleetly adverb
fleetness noun

More from Merriam-Webster on fleet

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!