mile
Pluralmiles
Pluralmiles
- 1A unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet; the international mile, set by international agreement in 1959, is exactly 1.609344 kilometers, and older statute miles differ only slightly.
The marathon route covered just over twenty-six miles.
Each mile on the highway is marked with a green sign.
UsagePlural after a number (two miles, 1.2 miles), but singular before a noun: a ten-mile walk (not
incorrect: a ten-miles walk). - 2A long distance or wide margin, called a mile or miles for emphasis rather than as an exact measurement.
With two weeks left before the election, the front-runner was ahead by a mile in every poll.
The finish line still felt a mile off, though it was only a few blocks away.
UsageMost often in by a mile (missed by a mile, won by a mile) and the plural miles away, miles behind.
- 3A unit of speed equal to one mile per hour, usually used in the plural to state how fast something is moving.
Police caught the driver doing twenty miles over the limit near the school.
On the interstate he was doing a good ten miles faster than the trucks beside him.
Note
Speed by ellipsis: miles per hour is clipped to miles, so five miles over the speed limit means five miles an hour too fast. The shortcut works only when the context, usually driving, already makes speed obvious.
- 4A nautical mile: the unit of distance that ships and aircraft navigate by, exactly 1,852 meters.
The navigator marked their position on the chart, one mile south of the harbor buoy.
Air traffic control cleared the jet to descend once it was within forty miles of the runway.
Note
At sea and in the air, a plain mile is normally taken to be the nautical one, which is noticeably longer than the mile on a road sign. The gap adds up over a trip: forty miles to a pilot is a good deal farther than forty miles on a highway. Where the two could be confused, the full name nautical mile is the safe choice.
- 5A unit of credit earned in an airline's frequent flyer program, redeemable toward flights, upgrades, and other rewards.
He redeemed his miles for an upgrade to business class.
She books all her work trips on the same airline, because every mile she earns brings her closer to a free flight home.
UsageUsually plural, with earn, collect or redeem: redeem your miles for an upgrade.
Similarpoint
Note
Travel's loyalty currency. It began as a record of distance flown and is now earned through card spending and partner purchases as often as through flying. Because it measures no distance at all, a balance of fifty thousand miles says nothing about how far anyone has actually flown.
- 6A footrace covering one mile, or a race of approximately that length, often run over 1,500 or 1,600 meters.
The mile remains one of the most celebrated events in track and field.
Coaches often enter their best athletes in both the mile and the half-mile.
UsageAs an event it usually takes the: run, enter or win the mile.
Note
Track and field's imperial survivor. In a sport otherwise measured in meters, the mile is still run as an event in its own right, and it is famed for the four-minute barrier first broken in 1954. The name also stretches loosely to the metric near-equivalents of 1,500 and 1,600 meters.
- 7By a great deal; much, used to give extra force to a comparative such as better or easier.
If you ask me, the sequel is miles funnier than the original movie.
The new version of the app is miles easier to use than the old one.
Oppositeslightly, marginally
Note
The adverb always takes the plural form and sits right before a comparative: miles better, miles funnier, miles easier to use. It borrows its picture from the loose "great distance" meaning, measuring the gap between two things as a stretch of road. It belongs to conversation and casual writing; in formal prose, far or much does the same job (far better, much easier).
Less common meanings
- 8Any of numerous traditional measures of distance that descend from the Roman mile, or mille passus, a length of 5,000 Roman feet or eight stades.
Roman engineers set a marker at the end of each mile along the great highways.
Travelers across the empire measured their journeys in Roman miles.
Note
The mile that gave English its word. Latin mille passus meant "a thousand paces." It was shortened to mīlle, "thousand"; its plural mīlia came through Germanic into Old English as mīl. The number is still hidden in the name. Five thousand Roman feet made up those thousand paces, so each pace measured five feet.
Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 5 facts
- English mile derives from the Roman expression mille passus, meaning a thousand paces. en.wikipedia.org
- The shortened singular was mīlle; mīlia was its plural, corresponding to mīlia passuum, meaning thousands of paces or miles. en.wiktionary.org
- Mīlia is the plural of mīlle, meaning thousand, and reached Old English as mīl through Germanic. en.wiktionary.org
- A Roman mile comprised one thousand paces and five thousand Roman feet. en.wiktionary.org
- Each Roman pace measured five Roman feet. en.wikipedia.org
- 9Any of various traditional units of length in other measuring systems, such as the Chinese or Arabic mile, that are roughly comparable in size.
Medieval Arab geographers measured distances in their own mile, somewhat longer than the Roman one.
If you read an old Chinese travel diary, keep in mind that the Chinese mile it uses was a different length from the English one.
- 10A unit of length used in Norway and Sweden, fixed at exactly ten kilometers when the two countries adopted the metric system.
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Origin
Latin mīlia, plural of mīlle ('thousand'), was borrowed into Proto-West Germanic as *mīliju, which gave Old English mīl and then Middle English myle. Taken literally the Latin meant 'thousand', but it served as shorthand for mīlle passūs, 'a thousand paces'.