mile

noun

ˈmī(-ə)l

Synonyms of mile next

: any of various units of distance: such as

: a unit equal to 5280 feet see Weights and Measures Table

: nautical mile

: a race of a mile

: a relatively great distance, degree, or interval

—usually plural

was miles ahead of them in education

—sometimes used adverbially

This one is miles [=much, far] better than that one.

Phrases

a mile a minute

: with great speed

talking a mile a minute

Examples of mile in a Sentence

We passed mile after mile of beautiful scenery as we drove through the country. We traveled over miles of dirt road. The car was traveling at 70 miles per hour. We were miles from home. We still have miles to go. The beach stretched on for miles and miles. See More

Recent Examples on the Web But in October, the administration fast-tracked the construction of roughly a dozen segments of barriers spanning 17 miles in South Texas. —

Ben Brasch, Washington Post, 21 Nov. 2023 The 21-foot-wide building, less than a mile from Barclays Center and just a handful of blocks from Fort Greene Park, was purchased almost six years ago for $2.75 million and subsequently transformed by Manhattan architect Aaron Schiller of Schiller Projects into a comfortable home for his family. —

Mark David, Robb Report, 21 Nov. 2023 Included in the rate are most outdoor winter activities, including snowshoeing, sledding, curling, and ice skating — and there are miles of hiking trails if there's no snow — as well as indoor activities like game nights. —

Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 21 Nov. 2023 Last month, Queen Camilla visited Mansion House with King Charles to take part in longstanding traditions marking a new monarch's first visit to the City of London (the historic square mile that joins 32 boroughs to make up Greater London) in their coronation year. —

Stephanie Petit, Peoplemag, 21 Nov. 2023 Visibility was about 1 mile, said Thomas Vaughan, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Honolulu. —

CBS News, 21 Nov. 2023 The movie plunges straight into the agricultural heart of things, opening with an extended sequence at an outdoor farmers’ market in the family’s home town of Roanne, five miles from Ouches. —

Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 21 Nov. 2023 The controller tried to direct the pilot to a runway about 2 miles from his location. —

Caleb Lunetta, San Diego Union-Tribune, 21 Nov. 2023 The female body part was inside a plastic bag that had been stuffed into a duffel and thrown in a trash bin in a parking lot near Ventura Boulevard and Rubio Avenue — about five miles away from Haskell’s home. —

Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 9 Nov. 2023 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'mile.' 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

Middle English, from Old English mīl, from Latin milia miles, from milia passuum, literally, thousands of paces, from milia, plural of mille thousand

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler

The first known use of mile was before the 12th century

See more words from the same century