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 two vessels were located approximately 26 nautical miles southwest of Plymouth, in an area under British responsibility. — ABC News, 30 Aug. 2026

Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, but oil has continued to move through the waterway, which is 29 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point. — Hamidreza Azizi, Time, 29 Aug. 2026

The team achieved 10 times better performance than GNSS systems, with a one nautical mile of positioning accuracy. — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 28 Aug. 2026

The other negative is that Starlink is increasing the cost for Ocean Mode, which enables Starlink access beyond 12 nautical miles from the coast and in international waters. — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 28 Aug. 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)