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

The information appears next to an April 26 Navy photo that shows Boxer transiting the Surigao Straight, roughly 4,000 nautical miles from the Strait of Hormuz. —Gary Robbins, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 Apr. 2026

The first turbines from the Revolution Wind project were clearly visible from about 5 nautical miles away, and can be seen from farther away on clear days. —Jennifer McDermott, CNN Money, 29 Apr. 2026

In its latest news release, the Coast Guard said that the agency and its partners spent over 100 hours searching for the missing crew members, covering over 135,000 square nautical miles. —David Chiu, PEOPLE, 29 Apr. 2026

Just this month, the yard launched Mitan, a 128-foot pocket explorer that has a range of 6,000 nautical miles. —Nicole Hoey, Robb Report, 28 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)