nautical mile

plural nautical miles

1. 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).

   Near-synonym: geographical mile (very close to the same distance)

   2 more examples

   Personnel trenches have been constructed or improved in Tantung (40-05-50N 124-21-30E) and along roads 13 nautical miles (nm) south-southwest of Tantung and 1.5 nm west of the border (Figures 2 and 3).

   1970 May, “Basic Description”, in Chinese Defensive Activity Along the China-North Korea Border, National Photographic Interpretation Center, published 2011, archived from the original on 04 Dec 2023, page 1

   An even more impressive nineteenth-century militarized lighthouse is found on the Taiwanese Wuchiu island, located just 20 nautical miles off the Chinese coast. While much of the surrounding military structure has been demolished, its black tower and high walls painted in camouflage colours stand as reminders of the contested history of this small frontier island.

   2022, Veronica della Dora, Where Light in Darkness Lies: The Story of the Lighthouse, →ISBN, →OCLC

   Synonyms: sea mile, geographical mile

2. historicalSynonym of sea mile, a historical Scandinavian unit of distance equal to about 4 nmi.

   Synonyms: sea mile