nautical
Syllables: nau·ti·calUK/ˈnɔːtɪ.kəl/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈnoː.tɪ.kəl/
nautical adjective: of, relating to, or characteristic of sailing, sailors, or the sea.

Adjective
nautical (not generally comparable, comparative more nautical, superlative most nautical, abbreviation naut.)
- Of, relating to, or characteristic of sailing, sailors, or the sea.
- Near-synonyms: marine, maritime, naval, seafaring
- I was mostly unfamiliar with the nautical terms used in the sailing documentary.
Noun
nautical (plural nauticals)
- A nautical person or writer; a sailor.
- Then comes the formal pompous introduction / Of Slowjohn’s cabin-staff, état major, / Which argued attitudial instruction / Beyond belief, in nauticals ashore.1831, canto I, in Paul Heidiger, editor, The Didoniad, a Semi-Virgilian Nautic Epic, […], Edinburgh: Henry Constable, […]; London: Hurst, Chance, and Co., →OCLC, page 30
- [T]he waves appeared to fall away under her keel and sides, offering the minimum of resistance to her course, owing to the peculiar form of her “entry.” Still, the nauticals looked knowing, and said, “Oh ay, this is all very well for a schooner on this wind—let us see how she’ll come back, when the...1831 August 16, correspondent, “The Yacht Clubs”, in The Times, number 20,883, London: […] John Joseph Lawson, […], published 18 August 1831, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 7, column 1
- Synonyms:
- nautic
nautical meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
nautical in Tamil
- கடலோடிகளுக்குரிய, கப்பல் துறை சார்ந்த, பக்பல்துறை சார்ந்த, கப்பலோட்டிகள் பற்றிய
nautical in Urdu
- بحری, جہازی, ملاحوں کا
nautical in Bengali
- জাহাজ, নাবিক, নৌচালন সম্পর্কিত, নৌ
nautical in Malayalam
- കപ്പലിനെയോ കപ്പലോട്ടക്കാരനെയോ സംബന്ധിച്ച, നൗകാവിഷയകമായ, സമുദ്രപരമായ
More languagesFewer languages
- nautical in Kannada
- ಹಡಗಿನ
- nautical in Punjabi
- ਜਹਾਜ਼ੀ jahāzī
- nautical in Arabic
- بَحْرِيّ baḥriyy
- nautical in Vietnamese
- hàng hải
Examples of nautical in a sentence
- The occurrence to which we allude—fraught as our shores are with recollection of nautical disaster—is one which must powerfully impress even the most unreflecting mind.1831 July 30, Vyvyan [pseudonym], “The Topographer. Travelling Notes in South Wales.”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and...
- In front is a leather rack, in which to keep your speaking trumpet, pipe, telescope, and other nautical conveniences.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Mast-Head”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers...
- The mainsail was "scandalised"—a nautical mode of describing a sail reefed at both ends; […]1887, Mrs. Dominic D[aniel] Daly [i.e., Harriet Douglas Daly], chapter 1870, in Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern...
- I wanted no sudden nauticals swaggering unexpectedly round the old bollards while I was engaged in psychic exploration.1985, Jonathan Gash [pseudonym; John Grant], chapter 4, in Pearlhanger (A Lovejoy Novel of Suspense), New York, N.Y.: A Joan Kahn book, St....
Synonyms of nautical
Forms of nautical
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more nautical |
| superlative | most nautical |
| abbreviation | naut. |
| Noun | |
| plural | nauticals |
Origin of nautical
From Middle French nautique (“of or relating to sailors or navigation”) or its etymon, Classical Latin nauticus (“of or relating to ships, seafaring”), + -al (adjectival suffix). Nauticus is from Ancient Greek ναυτικός (nautikós), from ναύτης (naútēs, “sailor”) + -ικός (-ikós, adjecival suffix). Compare later nautic. With use as noun compare Classical Latin nauticus (“sailor”).
Words formed from nautical
Phrases with nautical
Questions about nautical
- What does nautical mean?
- Nautical means of, relating to, or characteristic of sailing, sailors, or the sea.
- What is nautical in Tamil?
- Nautical in Tamil is கடலோடிகளுக்குரிய, கப்பல் துறை சார்ந்த, பக்பல்துறை சார்ந்த. See Nautical meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use nautical in a sentence?
- The occurrence to which we allude—fraught as our shores are with recollection of nautical disaster—is one which must powerfully impress even the most unreflecting mind.
- What part of speech is nautical?
- Nautical can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce nautical?
- Nautical is pronounced /ˈnɔːtɪ.kəl/ (UK).
Words near nautical in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: nautical (page history and authors); nautical (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nautical (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nautical (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nautical (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); nautical (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nautical.ogg.
Cite this entry: “nautical.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nautical. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
