navy

American  

[nay-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

Court records show Rush was accused of falsely telling employers he had been a navy pilot.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026

During evidence at the hearing, the man's daughter Su Christie, said her father, a former merchant navy crewman, had a lifelong fear of showers due to a childhood trauma.

From BBC ● Sep. 28, 2026

A Vietnamese fisherman or a Western company looking at sea-floor mining would face the wrath of the Malaysian navy.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026

The Coast Guard said it was coordinating its search efforts with the Mexican navy and commercial vessels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2026

He’s wearing his same navy bandana and still has his black hair in neat braids.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

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

The attacks forced international navies to instead tackle the Houthi threat, thus allowing armed groups on the Somali coast to take advantage of the security lapse.

From BBC ● May 2, 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

Hans Tino Hansen of the Risk Intelligence firm told AFP the number of warships in western navies equipped for a convoy mission had fallen by 75 percent since 1988.

From Barron's ● Mar. 18, 2026

Seeking security in military superiority, they recruited ever larger armies and navies, piled up more and more of the latest new weapons, and built wider and stronger fortifications along their national borders.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman