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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

She said she makes about $120,000 a year; if she were to hire a small fleet under her, she estimated her take-home would be $200,000.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

The MOD said it was set to replace its entire Warrior fleet from 2027.

From BBC ● Nov. 5, 2026

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

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 3, 2026

A fleet of decoy ducks bobbed realistically up and down in the water in front of them.

From "The Incredible Journey" by Sheila Burnford

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

“As we enter this next chapter, our Fleet team remains committed to providing the service, expertise and support our clients have come to expect from Quixote,” the company wrote in an email.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026

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

From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026

That night the ships of the Iron Fleet numbered sixty.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

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

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

Certainly the records show that they were exceptionally heavy in officers, one writer adducing as a reason that “the rebel officers had fleeter horses, so not so many of them were slain.”

From Edge Hill The Battle and Battlefield by Edwin Walford

Utah also plays at the sixth-slowest pace in the league, in part because Gobert is a dominant half-court defender who isn’t the fleetest of foot end to end.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 13, 2020

The stagecraft by which customers who just a minute ago were getting the closest of shaves are removed isn’t the fleetest.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 29, 2019

Calderon, whose contract runs through next season, has never been the fleetest afoot, and his defense has not aged well.

From New York Times ● Jan. 28, 2016

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

From Reuters ● Oct. 16, 2015

Why, the fleetest boy in town, As he bared his feet and ran, Could read with half a glance— And of keen rebuke, perchance— Your secret countenance, Old Man!

From Neghborly Poems and Dialect Sketches by James Whitcomb Riley

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

U.S. adversaries meanwhile “built fleets at a pace not seen in generations,” it said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● 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

Companies at the forefront of drone deliveries say they are also working to reduce the noise of their fleets.

From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2026

Both countries deployed new fleets of submarines packed with nuclear missiles.

From "Spies: The Secret Showdown Between America and Russia" by Marc Favreau

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

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

I remember, I remember How my childhood fleeted by,— The mirth of its December And the warmth of its July.

From Familiar Quotations A Collection of Passages, Phrases, and Proverbs Traced to Their Sources in Ancient and Modern Literature by John Bartlett

There his cares were dissipated, and the troubles of life, real or imaginary, on light pinions fleeted away.

From Alida or, Miscellaneous Sketches of Incidents During the Late American War. Founded on Fact by Amelia Stratton Comfield

They made her recall Thurston, whose remembered comments fleeted through her mind, while his grave, manly image appealed to it in retrospective vision.

From An Ambitious Woman A Novel by Edgar Fawcett

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

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

The result is a fleeting droplet of primordial matter.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026

Some find success sweet but fleeting, others spend years building to the pinnacle, and then there are those whose lasting glory evolves into a dynasty.

From BBC ● Oct. 14, 2026

For a moment—a fleeting moment—Kate looked desperately sad.

From "The Mysterious Benedict Society" by Trenton Lee Stewart

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