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

Range is 40 nautical miles (74 km/46 miles) at service speed, and the boat supports DC fast charging at up to 300 kW – meaning a port stop, not an overnight layover. —Omar Kardoudi april 09, New Atlas, 9 Apr. 2026

During this 13-minunte period, the crew will have effectively traversed 1,701 nautical miles. —Claire Cameron, Scientific American, 9 Apr. 2026

Waves reached up to 10 feet and the search area spanned more than 14,000 square nautical miles, the Coast Guard noted. —Kelly McGreal, FOXNews.com, 8 Apr. 2026

Search and rescue efforts spanned 14,000 square nautical miles of rough seas, where waves at times reached as high as 10 feet, the Coast Guard said. —Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 7 Apr. 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)