mile

American  

[mahyl] / maɪl /

noun

• miles
  plural

1. Also called statute mile. a unit of distance on land in English-speaking countries equal to 5,280 feet, or 1,760 yards (1.609 kilometers).

2. nautical mile.

3. international nautical mile.

4. any of various other units of distance or length at different periods and in different countries.

5. a notable distance or margin: mi, mi.

   missed the target by a mile.

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mile British  

/ maɪl /

noun

1. Also called: statute mile. a unit of length used in the UK, the US, and certain other countries, equal to 1760 yards. 1 mile is equivalent to 1.609 34 kilometres

2. See nautical mile

3. See Swedish mile

4. any of various units of length used at different times and places, esp the Roman mile, equivalent to 1620 yards

5. informal (often plural) a great distance; great deal

   he missed by a mile

6. a race extending over a mile

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adverb

1. (intensifier)

   he likes his new job miles better

mile Scientific  

/ mīl /

1. A unit of length in the US Customary System, equal to 5,280 feet or 1,760 yards (about 1.61 kilometers).

2. Also called statute mile

3. See nautical mile See Table at measurement

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mile Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing mile

• miss by a mile
• miss is as good as a mile
• stick out (like a mile)

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• miles
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of mile

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English mīl, from Latin mīlle (passus); mīlle, mīlia (passuum) “a thousand (paces), thousands of paces”

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Explanation

A mile is a unit for measuring distance. There are 1,760 yards in a mile, which is the same as 5,280 feet or 63,360 inches. If you're exhausted in the morning, your mile-long walk to school might feel much longer. In the U.S. and the U.K., the mile is the standard unit for measuring roads and highways, while most other countries use the kilometer instead. You might hear people talk about how many miles per gallon their cars can go, or how many miles per hour they're allowed to drive. Informally, the word miles also means "a long way," or "a lot," so you might describe a crowd stretching for miles. The Latin root, milia, means "thousands."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mile miles

In August, a Devon trust suspended standard birthing services at a hospital in Barnstaple leaving pregnant mothers having to make a 53 mile journey to Exeter to give birth.

From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026

Without a human, the truck drives from depot to another depot or yard where the trailer is either unloaded or a human driver takes over for docking or driving the final mile.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Our houses are less than half a mile apart.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

Staff use their own vehicles and the company pays mileage at 55p per business mile.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

From there it would be only a short walk to the school, no more than a mile.

From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood

To support the trust's school assembly programme, Ruggles' friend Lucy Parkinson ran 250 miles over nine days from Newcastle to Leicestershire.

From BBC ● Oct. 18, 2026

This time, the companies say they have completed hundreds of thousands of miles of testing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026

A bird that migrates thousands of miles has revealed a surprising secret about how wings work.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2026

You can settle in, say, Culver City, which is several miles inland, and wait for rising tides to arrive.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 17, 2026

We weren’t two miles from home, but the crick was somewhere else.

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

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