fleet
1 Americannoun
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the largest organized unit of naval ships grouped for tactical or other purposes.
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the largest organization of warships under the command of a single officer.
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a number of naval vessels or vessels carrying armed crew members.
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a large group of ships, airplanes, trucks, etc., operated by a single company or under the same ownership.
He owns a fleet of cabs.
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a large group of airplanes, automobiles, etc., moving or operating together.
adjective
verb (used without object)
noun
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an arm of the sea; inlet.
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a creek; stream; watercourse.
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the Fleet, a former prison in London, long used for debtors.
adjective
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rapid in movement; swift
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poetic fleeting; transient
verb
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(intr) to move rapidly
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archaic (intr) to fade away smoothly; glide
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(tr) nautical
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to change the position of (a hawser)
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to pass (a messenger or lead) to a hawser from a winch for hauling in
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to spread apart (the blocks of a tackle)
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obsolete (intr) to float or swim
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obsolete (tr) to cause (time) to pass rapidly
noun
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a number of warships organized as a tactical unit
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all the warships of a nation
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a number of aircraft, ships, buses, etc, operating together or under the same ownership
noun
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a stream that formerly ran into the Thames between Ludgate Hill and Fleet Street and is now a covered sewer
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Also called: Fleet Prison. (formerly) a London prison, esp used for holding debtors
noun
Other Word Forms
- fleetly adverb
- fleetness noun
Etymology
Origin of fleet1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English flete, fleot(e), Old English flēot “bay, estuary; boat,” derivative of flēotan float ( def. ); 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. )
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Tesla’s ability to scale the unsupervised robo-taxi fleet is the most important catalyst for the stock this year,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Andrew Percoco in a recent report.
From Barron's • Apr. 6, 2026
Changes to the U.S. fleet could also hinder the U.S.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 6, 2026
Amazon’s Leo service will start connecting a portion of Delta’s fleet in 2028; Elon Musk’s Starlink has become a dominant satellite connectivity provider to airlines.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
This is needed as the current fleet is working overtime and is too small to meet America’s far-flung obligations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2026
Our soldiers ran past them toward our fleet, anxious to escape before the rebels landed and overran them.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.