nautical mile

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

ˈnau•ti•cal ˈmile, n. [countable]

1. Naval Terms a unit of distance at sea, equal to 1.852 kilometers.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

nau′tical mile′, 

1. Nautical, Weights and Measures a unit of distance used chiefly in navigation, equal to 6080.20 feet (1853.25 meters) in the U.S., now replaced by the international nautical mile. Also called geographical mile, sea mile. 

• 1625–35

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

nautical mile noun

1. Also called: international nautical mile, air mile a unit of length, used esp in navigation, equivalent to the average length of a minute of latitude, and corresponding to a latitude of 45°, i.e. 1852 m (6076.12 ft)
2. a former British unit of length equal to 1853.18 m (6080 ft), which was replaced by the international nautical mile in 1970
   Former name: geographical mile
   Compare sea mile