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

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

The 24-foot vessel has a range of roughly 1,000 nautical miles, a 1,000-pound payload capacity, and is capable of speeds above 35 knots. —Kapil Kajal, Interesting Engineering, 9 Dec. 2025

One interdiction took place 90 nautical miles from Barranquilla, a city on Colombia's northern coast, and the other one occurred about 70 miles south of that in the Gulf of Morrosquillo. —Stephen Smith, CBS News, 5 Dec. 2025

Zakharova claimed Kyiv authorized a December 1 drone boat strike on a Russian ship located 80 nautical miles off Turkey’s coast. —Amanda Castro, MSNBC Newsweek, 4 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)