navy

American  

[ney-vee] / ˈneɪ vi /

noun

• navies
  plural

1. the whole body of warships and auxiliaries belonging to a country or ruler.

2. (often initial capital letter) the complete body of such warships together with their officers and enlisted personnel, equipment, yards, etc., constituting the sea power of a nation.

3. (often initial capital letter) the department of government charged with its management.

4. navy blue.

5. Archaic. a fleet of ships.

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adjective

1. belonging or connected to a navy; naval.

   navy vessels in the harbor;

   a navy officer with combat experience aboard a submarine.

2. of the color navy blue.

   Either tie will look great with your navy suit.

navy British  

/ ˈneɪvɪ /

noun

1. the warships and auxiliary vessels of a nation or ruler

2. (often capital) the branch of a country's armed services comprising such ships, their crews, and all their supporting services and equipment

3. short for navy blue

4. archaic a fleet of ships

5. ( as modifier )

   a navy custom

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• pronavy
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• navies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of navy

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English navie, from Middle French, from unattested Vulgar Latin navia, equivalent to Latin nāv(is) “ship” + -ia noun suffix ( see -y ³)

Explanation

A navy is a military force made up of boats and ships that are equipped for defense and fighting. If you always get seasick, you might think about joining an army instead of a navy. During a war, a country's navy does the important job of protecting its shores, as well as attacking the enemy's coasts. A navy is made up of battleships, submarines, and smaller vessels, as well as planes that can land on aircraft carriers or on water. The color that's also called navy, a dark blue, was the original color of the British navy. The Latin root of navy is navis, "ship."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

navy navies

Gartshore appeared in court via video link wearing a navy prison uniform.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026

Most recently, the Italian navy, in conjunction with other EU countries, boarded a tanker in the central Mediterranean suspected of not being entitled to fly the flag it claimed.

From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026

A navy vessel and other ships rushed in Wednesday to rescue over 100 people from a ferry on fire off the tourist island of Bali, officials said, in the second such incident in days.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

The British navy reported that a cargo vessel had been hit by an unknown projectile off the coast of Oman.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 4, 2026

The work wearied her and made her feel “indigo, Prussian, navy, blue.”

From "The Woman All Spies Fear" by Amy Butler Greenfield

Until three years ago these kinds of incidents had almost disappeared in this area once notorious for hijackings, following a concerted security operation involving several navies.

From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026

By 1988, Iran was hitting merchant vessels weekly, prompting patrols by at least 10 Western and eight regional navies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026

What’s become apparent, Meade posits, is that control of the oceans through navies is no longer straightforward either.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 21, 2026

“In the short term, navies are not expected to escort merchant ships,” Larsen wrote.

From Barron's ● Apr. 8, 2026

In just a few years, it will grow by thirty combat divisions and one hundred aircraft squadrons, and its navy will be larger and stronger than the navies of the United States and Britain combined.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly