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 incident took place 11 nautical miles north of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz. —Sam Meredith, CNBC, 11 Mar. 2026

The journey covers 130 nautical miles, a fraction of the river's length. —Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Mar. 2026

Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England received a notification just before noon Thursday that the vessel Yankee Rose was overturned about two nautical miles northeast of Race Point in Provincetown. —CBS News, 7 Mar. 2026

The vessel can travel up to 22,000 nautical miles without needing to refuel in ports, reports said at the time of its 2005 inauguration. —Arkansas Online, 6 Mar. 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)