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 the right weather conditions, Hypersail should be able to achieve in excess of 1,000 nautical miles in 24 hours. —Andrew Rice, New York Times, 7 May 2026

The twin-engine private jet will have a range of 3,200 nautical miles (3,682 miles, 5,926 km) and a cruise altitude of 51,000 ft (15,545 m). —Chris Young, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026

The enmity presumably began in 1983 during the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, a 630-nautical mile race starting in Sydney, News South Wales, and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. —Marlow Stern, Variety, 6 May 2026

Commercial fishermen out at sea last May, about 50 nautical miles off the coast of Rizal, Palawan, the Philippines. —Jay Ganglani, NBC news, 3 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1830, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for nautical mile

• epicondyle
• geotextile
• nucleophile
• aisle
• bile
• chyle
• file
• guile
• heil
• isle
• kyle
• pile

Kids Definition

nautical mile

noun

: any of various units of distance used for sea and air navigation equal to about 6076 feet (1852 meters)