nautical mile
11
4.4
- noun
- /ˈnɔːtɪkəl maɪl/
- Specialized
:
milla náutica
- We took off from the coast 70 nautical miles away.
- 200 nautical miles
- three nautical miles
- 12 nautical miles
Examples
-
Thirty nautical miles to Lake Ontario.
-
The plane would be capable of flying up to 1,300 nautical miles to reach its launch point.
Blog text (1) -
About 48 nautical miles south of Venice.
-
Fishing trips were usually less than 18 hours and occurred within 30 nautical miles of port.
Academic text (1997) -
She's got a range, under power, of about a thousand nautical miles.
-
We are 1500 nautical miles southwest of Los Angeles.
-
If you take a look at the map, you'll see it's only about 200 nautical miles from Namou.
-
Cruising sailors spent the least time in inland waters and the most time beyond the 3-nautical-mile territorial limit.
Academic text (1998) -
Fifty-seven tags were recovered at least 100 nautical miles away from the tagging sites.
Academic text (1993) -
We are 13 nautical miles off the coast of Long Island.
Synonyms
93
1.0
A measure of distance at sea equal to 1,852 meters used in navigation
2
8.1
A unit of distance used at sea equal to 1,852 meters
1
3.2
A unit of distance used in flying that equals 1,852 meters
A unit of distance for ships and planes that equals 1,852 meters
A unit for measuring distance at sea or in the air equal to about 1852 meters
How Long
- Archaic
34
9.9
- Specialized
11
4.4
- Specialized
- Archaic
- Specialized
10
6.5
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a unit of length used in navigation' is directly derivable from combining 'nautical' (relating to ships/navigation) with 'mile' (a unit of distance); the compound simply specifies the type of mile used at sea. This compositional, descriptive pattern is common across languages and follows normal English modifier+noun compounding, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily understand it.
Etymology
The term nautical mile comes from sailors who measured distance by the lines that go around the Earth, and one small part of those lines called a 'minute' was used as a handy sea measure. So a nautical mile means the distance used at sea and in the air, 'about 1,852 meters'.