Fleet Meaning
/ˈfliːt/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA group of vessels or vehicles.
nounAny group of associated items.
Sentence Examples
Our combined fleet broke through the enemy's defense zone.
It's apparently a metaphor for something uncatchable, light of body and fleet of foot.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The delivery company maintains a large ____ of trucks to transport goods daily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The massive ____ of ships gathered in the harbor, preparing for a long and difficult voyage.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English flete, flet (“fleet”), from Old English flēot (“ship”), likely related to Proto-West Germanic *flotōn, from Proto-Germanic *flutōną (“to float”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"He did discourse to us of the Dutch fleete being abroad, eighty-five of them still, and are now at the Texell, he believes, in expectation of our Eastland ships coming home with masts and hempe, and our loaden Hambrough ships going to Hambrough."
— 1665 October 10 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Samuel Pepys, Mynors Bright, transcriber, “October 1st, 1665”, in Henry B[enjamin] Wheatley, editor, The Diary of Samuel Pepys […], volume V, London: George Bell & Sons […]; Cambridge: Deighton Bell & Co., published 1895, →OCLC, page 100:
"It was planning to use an '807' for one day only as part of a shakedown test, ahead of the fleet's formal entry to service which is currently planned for November."
— 2024 October 30, “Network News: Avanti prepares for Class 807s to enter traffic”, in RAIL, number 1021, page 12:
"This is especially true in distributed printing environments, where a fleet of printers is shared by users on a network."
— 2004, Jim Hoskins, Building an on Demand Computing Environment with IBM:
"And after the past few days, in which a fleet of Republicans and the president himself have utilized Jews as human shields for racist rhetoric, the Jews are tired, tired, tired of being used as defenses against naked racism, tired of being used to justify conditions at detention camps. Just plain tired."
— 2019 July 17, Talia Lavin, “When Non-Jews Wield Anti-Semitism as Political Shield”, in GQ:
"Despite the line proving to be a useful strategic route for men and supplies to the British naval fleets stationed at Scapa Flow in both world wars, the Duke's legacy looked to have passed into history when it was listed for closure in the infamous Beeching report."
— 2021 October 20, Paul Stephen, “Leisure and pleasure on the Far North Line”, in RAIL, number 942, page 48:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The delivery company maintains a large ____ of trucks to transport goods daily.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The massive ____ of ships gathered in the harbor, preparing for a long and difficult voyage.