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

Reaching its target speed of Mach 8 and an altitude of about 16 miles (26 km), the vehicle flew approximately 540 nautical miles (621 miles, 1,000 km) before splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean. —David Szondy march 02, New Atlas, 2 Mar. 2026

The confrontation happened Wednesday one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel in Cayo Falcones, off the northern coast of the Villa Clara province in central Cuba, according to Cuban government officials. —Michelle Marchante, Miami Herald, 27 Feb. 2026

The boat was one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino canal in Cayo Falcones when five members of the Border Guard Troops approached the boat for identification, the interior ministry said. —Jordan Freiman, CBS News, 27 Feb. 2026

The firefight happened about one nautical mile northeast of the El Pino channel, in Cayo Falcones, off the northern coast of Villa Clara province in central Cuba. —David Goodhue, Sun Sentinel, 26 Feb. 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)