Jump To:

• fleet
  fleet

  noun

  the largest organized unit of naval ships grouped for tactical or other purposes.
• Fleet
  Fleet

  noun

  a stream that formerly ran into the Thames between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street and is now a covered sewer

fleet

¹ American  

[fleet] / flit /

noun

1. the largest organized unit of naval ships grouped for tactical or other purposes.

2. the largest organization of warships under the command of a single officer.

3. a number of naval vessels or vessels carrying armed crew members.

4. a large group of ships, airplanes, trucks, etc., operated by a single company or under the same ownership.

   He owns a fleet of cabs.

5. a large group of airplanes, automobiles, etc., moving or operating together.

---

fleet ² American  

[fleet] / flit /

adjective

fleeter, fleetest

1. swift; rapid.

   to be fleet of foot;

   a fleet horse.

---

verb (used without object)

• fleets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fleeted,
  past participle,  past
• fleeting
  present participle

1. to move swiftly; fly.

2. Nautical. to change position; shift.

3. Archaic.

   1. to glide along like a stream.

   2. to fade; vanish.

4. Obsolete. to float; drift; swim.

verb (used with object)

• fleets,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fleeted,
  past participle,  past
• fleeting
  present participle

1. to cause (time) to pass lightly or swiftly.

   Synonyms:

   beguile, hasten, speed

2. Nautical.

   1. to move or change the position of.

   2. to separate the blocks of (a tackle).

   3. to lay (a rope) along a deck.

fleet ³ American  

[fleet] / flit /

noun

British Dialect.

1. an arm of the sea; inlet.

2. a creek; stream; watercourse.

3. the Fleet, a former prison in London, long used for debtors.

---

fleet ¹ British  

/ fliːt /

adjective

1. rapid in movement; swift

2. poetic fleeting; transient

---

verb

1. (intr) to move rapidly

2. archaic (intr) to fade away smoothly; glide

3. (tr) nautical

   1. to change the position of (a hawser)

   2. to pass (a messenger or lead) to a hawser from a winch for hauling in

   3. to spread apart (the blocks of a tackle)

4. obsolete (intr) to float or swim

5. obsolete (tr) to cause (time) to pass rapidly

fleet ² British  

/ fliːt /

noun

1. a number of warships organized as a tactical unit

2. all the warships of a nation

3. a number of aircraft, ships, buses, etc, operating together or under the same ownership

---

Fleet ³ British  

/ fliːt /

noun

1. a stream that formerly ran into the Thames between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street and is now a covered sewer

2. Also called: Fleet Prison. (formerly) a London prison, esp used for holding debtors

---

fleet ⁴ British  

/ fliːt /

noun

1. a small coastal inlet; creek

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fleetness
  noun
• fleetly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Participles

• fleeting
  present
• fleeted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fleet
  simple
• fleets
  simple
• have fleeted
  perfect
• has fleeted
  perfect
• am fleeting
  progressive
• are fleeting
  progressive
• is fleeting
  progressive
• have been fleeting
  perfect progressive
• has been fleeting
  perfect progressive

Past

• fleeted
  simple
• had fleeted
  perfect
• was fleeting
  progressive
• were fleeting
  progressive
• had been fleeting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fleet
  simple
• will have fleeted
  perfect
• will be fleeting
  progressive
• will have been fleeting
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fleet¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English flete, fleot(e), Old English flēot “bay, estuary; boat,” derivative of flēotan float ( def. ); cf. fleet ²

Origin of fleet²

First recorded in 1520–30; probably from or akin to Old Norse fljótr “quick, speedy”

Origin of fleet³

First recorded before 900; Middle English flete, Old English flēot “flowing water”; cognate with German Fliess “brook”; fleet ³ def. 3 is so called after the Fleet a stream, later covered and used as a sewer, near which the prison was located; fleet ¹ ( def. )

Explanation

A fleet is usually a large group of ships, but it can be any group of vessels like planes or cars that operate as a unit. A naval fleet is the largest formation of warships. A naval fleet at sea is like an army on land. One meaning of fleet comes from the Old English fleot, meaning “ship,” “raft,” or “floating vessel.” Although a fleet is usually a group of ships or airplanes operating under the same ownership, any group of vessels sailing together can be called a fleet, even you and your friends in a fleet of kayaks. Another meaning of fleet originates in the Old English flēotan, which means “moving swiftly.” When it’s used in that way, it’s usually in the -ing form, fleeting.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fleet Fleet fleeter fleetest fleets fleeted fleeting

Marines will remain to protect American diplomatic missions, along with contractors to maintain Iraq’s fleet of F-16 jet fighters and American-made tanks, according to current and former U.S. officials.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 30, 2026

Orders for three floating dry docks, worth £6bn, to maintain the Royal Navy's nuclear-powered submarine fleet at Faslane will go to a UK-based shipbuilder, the chancellor has confirmed.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

He said the charity was in the process of moving to a fully electrified fleet, but he said rising fuel costs directly affected the families it supported.

From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026

This month, our marine tanker tracking team paid a surreptitious visit to the fleet, traveling on a standard rustic supply vessel so as not to attract attention.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

For a long time hunted and hunter held their weird, fleet course, and the day was darkening fast.

From "A Wizard of Earthsea" by Ursula K. Le Guin

While the 2030 Games in the French Alps await, Frankel is minding the net for the Boston Fleet in the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Fleet operators acknowledged that some drivers have been apprehensive to make the leap to zero-emission trucks because the technology is new and charging can be a challenge.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Central Command headquarters, some in the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain, some on each ship.

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

Two more ministers also announced they were stepping down on Wednesday, Natalie Fleet and Mary Creagh.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

When the victorious Greek Fleet put out to sea after the fall of Troy, many a captain, all unknowing, faced troubles as black as those he had brought down on the Trojans.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

A new director, Warren Carlyle, has streamlined the show, shaving 20 minutes of running time through a combination of textual cuts and fleeter scenic design choices.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2023

The sound here builds upon the duo’s older work in two ways: It feels slightly fleeter, and more oriented toward the dance floor, and many of the lyrics have a darker tinge to them.

From New York Times ● Aug. 16, 2018

Something kind of similar is happening in the fleeter, more escapist Arrow and The Flash, two ongoing series on the CW based on DC Comics characters.

From Slate ● Mar. 9, 2015

Tendulkar, still fleeter of foot than some of his peers, was the man in fruitless pursuit.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 21, 2011

The boys were fleeter of foot, but Farmer Ellison knew the ground.

From The Rival Campers Ashore The Mystery of the Mill by Ruel Perley Smith

Edney, the fleetest player on the team, had been doing this sort of thing since taking his talents from the home driveway to youth league games at Victoria Park gym in Carson.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2020

Joe Lapchick’s squads in the 1950s were among the fleetest in the game, but since then only a handful of Knicks team could reasonably be described as using an up-tempo offense.

From New York Times ● Jan. 2, 2016

Never mind that other established players, such as Sacramento Kings all-star center DeMarcus Cousins, have dubbed him the league’s fleetest.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 16, 2015

"I'm not the fleetest of foot but I was just fast enough to get there."

From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2015

Father Time flew in his fleetest fashion, but no one of the group paid the slightest attention to the fact.

From Marjorie Dean, High School Junior by Pauline Lester

Thousands of Bombardier aircraft currently operate in US airlines' domestic fleets.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Tesla on Thursday also began allowing customers to apply to operate their own fleets of Cybercabs, although details about timing and other factors weren’t provided.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 4, 2026

It offloaded bare-bones models into rental fleets, sapping resale values.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

Years of market turmoil, federal funding cuts, canceled projects and industry pullback have made it clear: California’s grand vision for fleets of vehicles and heavy industry running on clean hydrogen fuel has stalled.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

Savvy operators within these organizations diverted trucks and colluded with smugglers to import fleets of secondhand cars, vans, and buses from China.

From "Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West" by Blaine Harden

Another day of hiding and a night of journey had fleeted by.

From "The Return of the King" by J.R.R. Tolkien

The expression of indecision still fleeted across his face; he seemed as if weighing his thoughts in the balance, and the considerations he was revolving left him still silent.

From The House of Souls by Arthur Machen

A score of lustres will have fleeted Before the Ministry of Art, Though it should make an early start, Can hope to see the thing completed.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, January 28, 1914 by Sir Owen Seaman

Still the hounds fleeted on, and I never took my eye off them, but urged my horse in their wake, taking every turn they did, and swerving from nothing.

From Kate Coventry An Autobiography by G. J. Whyte-Melville

There had fleeted the happiest hours of her life.

From The Joy of Captain Ribot by Armando Palacio Vald?s

“The Way You Look Tonight” lasts because every element serves one idea: Beauty is fleeting, yet memory can preserve its warmth.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

Yet any tarnish to the U.S.’s standing could be fleeting.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 6, 2026

Then come the notions and hardware, like earring posts, beads and crystal accents, that complete the transformation from fleeting flora to lasting adornment.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

In his account, Bayoumi's association with the future hijackers was fleeting.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

He must have been busy as a beaver during his fleeting school days.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• armada
• flotilla
• navy
• squadron