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

In addition, the NTSB found that between October 2021 and December 2024, there had been 15,214 occurrences between commercial airplanes and helicopters in which the aircraft were within one nautical mile of each other with a vertical separation of less than 400 feet. —Judy L. Thomas, Kansas City Star, 18 Dec. 2025

As for range, estimates have circulated of around 10,000 nautical miles (18,520 km) or more. —Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 14 Dec. 2025

Its official range is 8,000 nautical miles (9,206 miles, 14,816 km) – the longest range for a business jet in that speed range with a four-cabin layout. —New Atlas, 13 Dec. 2025

Just 32 nautical miles southeast of the city, the historic ocean liner SS United States will be intentionally sunk to form the world’s largest artificial reef. —Kelsey Glennon, Southern Living, 12 Dec. 2025

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)