1
: a number of warships under a single command
specifically
: an organization of ships and aircraft under the command of a flag officer
2
: group sense 2a
especially
: a group (as of ships, planes, or trucks) operated under unified control
fleeted; fleeting; fleets
2
[fleet entry 2]
: to fly swiftly
clouds fleeting across the sky
3
obsolete
: drift
: to cause (time) to pass usually quickly or imperceptibly
many young gentlemen … fleet the time carelessly—
William Shakespeare
William ShakespeareSynonyms
Examples of fleet in a Sentence
Noun
He was the commander of the Pacific fleet.
The company has a large fleet of delivery trucks.
Adjective
a jewel thief said to be light of heart and fleet of foot
Recent Examples on the WebAndrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2024
The 128th Air Refueling Wing, a Wisconsin Air National Guard facility on the east side of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, is in the running for a major upgrade to its aging fleet.
—David Clarey, Journal Sentinel, 16 Apr. 2024
While filming Mission: Impossible in Paris, Cavill poked fun at the mustache mayhem, joking that people from both movies' studios were forming a fleet of weapons over his facial hair.
—Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 16 Apr. 2024
Its Black Sea fleet has been defeated and largely driven from its Crimean bases.
—Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2024
Military personnel, assisted by many volunteer technical specialists, gained a decisive intelligence advantage for their forces by quickly fielding fleets of hundreds of camera drones connected to simple yet effective battlefield-management systems.
—IEEE Spectrum, 10 Apr. 2024
The French cruise line just added a new 79-foot sailing catamaran to its fleet.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 10 Apr. 2024
Spirit now expects to end 2025 with a total of 219 jets in its fleet, with no additions of the A320neo aircraft.
—Reuters, CNN, 8 Apr. 2024
The spokesman said SamTrans has taken other steps to protect its bus drivers, including installing protective barriers in some buses in its fleet.
—Kristin J. Bender, The Mercury News, 6 Apr. 2024
Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2024
Car rental companies divested themselves of many of their fleet cars in the early days of the pandemic, and were not able to quickly replenish them due to microchip shortages and supply chain problems among automakers.
—William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 23 Aug. 2023
Or lovers-to-be, for the bulk of its cheerfully fleet 82-minute runtime — not that Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia’s fast-talking script leaves us in any doubt as to their destiny from their first sweetly awkward meet-cute.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Mar. 2023
Some diehard Romantics might object that Hough is too fleet in his approach.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022
Building in predictive alerts to provide real time coaching is what is needed, and companies like Nauto are innovating rapidly in fleet predictive intelligence looking ahead vs analyzing statistics alone.
—Cindy Gordon, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021
Additionally, Ultium Charge 360 will help support home charging and provide non-fleet drivers access to more than 60,000 public places to charge.
—Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 16 July 2021
During the orchestral prelude, Daniel Barenboim drew a crisp, clean and fleet performance from the players.
—New York Times, 13 Mar. 2020
Burns thinks his company can compete for a share of the electric vehicle market by being quicker to adjust to technology and by targeting commercial, fleet customers who want more than what conventional trucks can supply.
—BostonGlobe.com, 8 Nov. 2019
Anto Dotcom, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2023
Songs come on the radio and instantly transport you back to a specific summer and that unforgettable vacation, fleeting romance or questionable decision that came with it.
—Joey Morona, cleveland, 19 Sep. 2023
While the two-day sale unfolds over July 11 and 12, our entire team is taking advantage of the limited-time fashion deals, fleeting Apple tech discounts, and rare sneaker sales that make Prime Day an unofficial holiday.
—Harper's BAZAAR, 11 July 2023
City residents and artists feel a sense of loss knowing that the odds of a momentary sighting or fleeting run-in with Ms. Ono are now even lower, and some have started writing tributes to her time in New York in blogs and small outlets.
—Anna Kodé, New York Times, 21 July 2023
The costs Afghanistan is enduring because of his edicts have given rise to persistent rumors of splits within the government—and even, this year, some notable if fleeting public evidence of internal dissent.
—Steve Coll, The New York Review of Books, 1 June 2023
No detox is open for intake in the evening or on the weekends, limiting the sometimes fleeting windows for people seeking sobriety to get help.
—Mallory Moench, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Apr. 2023
The brothers are betting that their brand of versatile, distinctive pop music will win out over clever marketing strategies and fleeting social media fads.
—Brady Brickner-Wood, SPIN, 12 Apr. 2023
Some have also questioned how fleeting this new role might be: As the AI advances, won’t the humans just be training themselves out of a job?
—Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2023
Noun
Michelle Kinman, the incubator’s senior vice president of market transportation, said the 250-unit fleet comprises 215 commuter bikes, 29 cargo bikes and six adaptive bikes, including tricycles.
—Andrew J. Campa, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2024
The 128th Air Refueling Wing, a Wisconsin Air National Guard facility on the east side of Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, is in the running for a major upgrade to its aging fleet.
—David Clarey, Journal Sentinel, 16 Apr. 2024
While filming Mission: Impossible in Paris, Cavill poked fun at the mustache mayhem, joking that people from both movies' studios were forming a fleet of weapons over his facial hair.
—Brenton Blanchet, Peoplemag, 16 Apr. 2024
Its Black Sea fleet has been defeated and largely driven from its Crimean bases.
—Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 10 Apr. 2024
Military personnel, assisted by many volunteer technical specialists, gained a decisive intelligence advantage for their forces by quickly fielding fleets of hundreds of camera drones connected to simple yet effective battlefield-management systems.
—IEEE Spectrum, 10 Apr. 2024
The French cruise line just added a new 79-foot sailing catamaran to its fleet.
—Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 10 Apr. 2024
Spirit now expects to end 2025 with a total of 219 jets in its fleet, with no additions of the A320neo aircraft.
—Reuters, CNN, 8 Apr. 2024
The spokesman said SamTrans has taken other steps to protect its bus drivers, including installing protective barriers in some buses in its fleet.
—Kristin J. Bender, The Mercury News, 6 Apr. 2024
Adjective
Her star-wattage smile sets the tone for the friendly, fleet front-of-house staff.
—Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times, 16 Mar. 2024
Car rental companies divested themselves of many of their fleet cars in the early days of the pandemic, and were not able to quickly replenish them due to microchip shortages and supply chain problems among automakers.
—William Thornton | Wthornton@al.com, al, 23 Aug. 2023
Or lovers-to-be, for the bulk of its cheerfully fleet 82-minute runtime — not that Nathan Bryon and Tom Melia’s fast-talking script leaves us in any doubt as to their destiny from their first sweetly awkward meet-cute.
—Guy Lodge, Variety, 16 Mar. 2023
Some diehard Romantics might object that Hough is too fleet in his approach.
—Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2022
Building in predictive alerts to provide real time coaching is what is needed, and companies like Nauto are innovating rapidly in fleet predictive intelligence looking ahead vs analyzing statistics alone.
—Cindy Gordon, Forbes, 17 Oct. 2021
Additionally, Ultium Charge 360 will help support home charging and provide non-fleet drivers access to more than 60,000 public places to charge.
—Jamie L. Lareau, Detroit Free Press, 16 July 2021
During the orchestral prelude, Daniel Barenboim drew a crisp, clean and fleet performance from the players.
—New York Times, 13 Mar. 2020
Burns thinks his company can compete for a share of the electric vehicle market by being quicker to adjust to technology and by targeting commercial, fleet customers who want more than what conventional trucks can supply.
—BostonGlobe.com, 8 Nov. 2019
Verb
The economic model targets fleeting attention spans, making layered artistry challenging.
—Anto Dotcom, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2023
Songs come on the radio and instantly transport you back to a specific summer and that unforgettable vacation, fleeting romance or questionable decision that came with it.
—Joey Morona, cleveland, 19 Sep. 2023
While the two-day sale unfolds over July 11 and 12, our entire team is taking advantage of the limited-time fashion deals, fleeting Apple tech discounts, and rare sneaker sales that make Prime Day an unofficial holiday.
—Harper's BAZAAR, 11 July 2023
City residents and artists feel a sense of loss knowing that the odds of a momentary sighting or fleeting run-in with Ms. Ono are now even lower, and some have started writing tributes to her time in New York in blogs and small outlets.
—Anna Kodé, New York Times, 21 July 2023
The costs Afghanistan is enduring because of his edicts have given rise to persistent rumors of splits within the government—and even, this year, some notable if fleeting public evidence of internal dissent.
—Steve Coll, The New York Review of Books, 1 June 2023
No detox is open for intake in the evening or on the weekends, limiting the sometimes fleeting windows for people seeking sobriety to get help.
—Mallory Moench, San Francisco Chronicle, 14 Apr. 2023
The brothers are betting that their brand of versatile, distinctive pop music will win out over clever marketing strategies and fleeting social media fads.
—Brady Brickner-Wood, SPIN, 12 Apr. 2023
Some have also questioned how fleeting this new role might be: As the AI advances, won’t the humans just be training themselves out of a job?
—Drew Harwell, Washington Post, 25 Feb. 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'fleet.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near fleet
Cite this Entry
“Fleet.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fleet. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
fleet
1 of 2 noun1
: a group of warships under one command
2
: a group of ships or vehicles that move together or are under one management
a fleet of taxis
a fishing fleet
fleet
2 of 2 adjective
: very swift
fleet of foot
fleetly
adverb
fleetness
noun
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