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• 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.

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fleet ² American  

[fleet] / flit /

adjective

fleeter, fleetest

1. swift; rapid.

   to be fleet of foot;

   a fleet horse.

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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.

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fleet ¹ British  

/ fliːt /

adjective

1. rapid in movement; swift

2. poetic fleeting; transient

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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

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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

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fleet ⁴ British  

/ fliːt /

noun

1. a small coastal inlet; creek

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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

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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. )

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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

Musk also wrote that the Cybertruck fleet “will be around for a long time.”

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

Data obtained by the BBC reveals that less than half of the 36 fleet - what TfW call the "final piece" in their £2bn South Wales Metro project - have passed rigorous statutory testing.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

As Waymo’s fleet grows, so does the number of accidents involving its vehicles.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

The scheme included payoffs to officials who maintained former Mexican President Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s aircraft fleet, according to the guilty plea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

“Your departure should improve the image of the fleet considerably, Colonel. Now I strongly suggest you drink up and get back to the ship.”

From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy

The scars of the fight could be seen around the Bahraini capital, where the U.S. 5th Fleet has several support facilities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2026

Born Alan Howard Frieda in London in 1951, his father was a hairdresser who owned a salon in Ealing, west London, while his grandfather had also been a Fleet Street barber.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

Scientists now estimate that approximately 2.22 million Indigenous people lived across the continent before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, potentially up to seven times the number suggested by some earlier calculations.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026

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

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

I wrote to Tom Fleet, the boy who helped Gram when the snake took a snack out of her leg.

From "Walk Two Moons" by Sharon Creech

The Rams defense will try to neutralize the 44-year-old Brady, who is not as mobile as younger, fleeter quarterbacks but remains a master at moving in the pocket.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 22, 2022

Trio of bear cubs, and fleeter than birds, Russell and Baez and Riz.

From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2016

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

Fearing, however, that larger forces might be lying in ambush in the fields, and perceiving that the enemy's cavalry was fleeter than his own, he abandoned the pursuit and reached Point Isabel about nine o'clock.

From History of the War Between Mexico and the United States, with a Preliminary View of its Origin, Volume 1 by Brantz Mayer

He is just about the fastest marathoner alive, and so much faster than everyone else in the race, even if this marathon does not necessarily favor the fleetest in the field.

From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2021

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

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

From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2015

Thirty-four of the planet’s fleetest of foot - 20 men and 14 women from the United States and eight other countries - are in the hunt.

From Washington Times ● Apr. 19, 2015

Not the soul that's whitest     Wakens love the sweetest: When the heart is lightest     Oft the charm is fleetest.

From The Divine Vision and Other Poems by A.E.

But police forces are fighting back, and are employing increasingly sophisticated ways to tackle e-bike related crime including drones and their own fleets of e-motorbikes.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

“The biggest online retailers and grocers are racing ahead, building their own delivery fleets, warehouses, membership programs, and AI shopping assistants,” the companies said in their release.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 29, 2026

U.S. federal and local agencies are partnering with startups to deploy floating nuclear power barges and nuclear-powered cargo fleets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026

The money will go towards 14 schemes across England, including new urgent care centres, ambulance fleets and upgrades to emergency departments.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

Such bureaucracies were essential not only to governing large and populous domains but also to maintaining standing armies, sending out fleets of exploration, and organizing wars of conquest.

From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond

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

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

And so the vision fleeted, and Byfield’s language claimed attention.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 20 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson

Alas! alas! my new-sprung joy fast fleeted away, almost as suddenly as it had arisen!

From The Boy Tar by Edward Read

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

Thou camest for a moment, Then fleeted swift away, As the rosy cloud of sunset Fades at the close of day, As the beaming star of twilight Withdraws its golden ray.

From Graham's Magazine Vol XXXII No. 1 January 1848 by Robert Taylor Conrad

It’s brief and shows little, but the fleeting moment will inform everything that happens in writer-director Lance Hammer’s crushing second feature.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

And that’s better than the fleeting pleasure of retaliatory pettiness, well-earned though it may be.

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2026

With each new discovery, researchers are gaining a clearer picture of the remarkable state of matter that dominated the universe during its first fleeting moments after the Big Bang.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 3, 2026

In “Self-Portrait, Age 23,” matter is palpable, mesmerizing, intensely present—yet also fleeting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026

How fleeting are the wishes and efforts of man! how short his time! and consequently how poor will his products be, compared with those accumulated by nature....

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly

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