nautical mile
noun
Simple meaning
A unit of length used in navigation.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
nawtuhkuhlmylSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈnɔtəkəlˈmaɪl
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude
A unit of length corresponding approximately to one minute of arc of latitude along any meridian. By international agreement it is exactly 1,852 metres (approximately 6,076 feet or 1.151 statute mile).
A former British unit of length equivalent to 6,080 feet (1,853.184 meters); 800 feet longer than a statute mile
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: A unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters; historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of arc in latitude
Used this way, nautical mile is a rare word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. This sense is used where position and measurement matter — travel, weather and flight — so it reads as factual rather than emotive.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Rare
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
Where it naturally appears
- Geography/travel
- Weather/aviation
- Technical/specialist writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.