as in world
a huge physical or conceptual distance
my sister and I are close in age, but personality-wise, there are light-years between us
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Recent Examples of light-year
First glimpsed in some of JWST’s earliest images, LRDs remain one of the telescope’s biggest surprises—ruby-red objects that shine like a star but may reach up to 500 light-years in size.
—
Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
The company has stripped away the complexity, allowing anyone to snap spectacular images of galaxies and nebulae hundreds of light-years away without wrestling with multi-component setups requiring serious technical chops – all wrapped in Vaonis's trademark minimalist design.
—New Atlas, 26 Jan. 2026
Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a middle-school teacher tapped for a mission to a solar system 12 light-years away to save humanity before a catastrophe wipes out Earth.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026
Their explanation, detailed in a paper published this week in the journal Nature, indicates the answer resides near a distant, young star about the same size as our sun.
EC 53 is only one of thousands of protostars forming inside the Serpens Nebula about 1,300 light-years from Earth.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for light-year
Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 5 Feb. 2026
The company has stripped away the complexity, allowing anyone to snap spectacular images of galaxies and nebulae hundreds of light-years away without wrestling with multi-component setups requiring serious technical chops – all wrapped in Vaonis's trademark minimalist design.
—New Atlas, 26 Jan. 2026
Ryan Gosling stars as Ryland Grace, a middle-school teacher tapped for a mission to a solar system 12 light-years away to save humanity before a catastrophe wipes out Earth.
—Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 24 Jan. 2026
Their explanation, detailed in a paper published this week in the journal Nature, indicates the answer resides near a distant, young star about the same size as our sun.
EC 53 is only one of thousands of protostars forming inside the Serpens Nebula about 1,300 light-years from Earth.
—Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 22 Jan. 2026
See All Example Sentences for light-year
Recent Examples of Synonyms for light-year
Noun
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Trump, he's done things, and then he's continued on with his speech, and then continued on to meet with world leaders.—
Anthony Robledo,
USA Today,
19 Feb. 2026
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Heads started to roll in the business world in 2021, when Apollo Global Management CEO Leon Black and Barclays CEO Jes Staley both stepped down because of their ties to Epstein.—
Matt Egan,
CNN Money,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
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That, in turn, affects models of how elements are spread through galaxies, since supernovae are major sources of heavy elements like iron.—
Rupendra Brahambhatt,
Interesting Engineering,
15 Feb. 2026
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Astronaut John Crichton falls into a wormhole and emerges in a remote galaxy where he's rescued by a sentient spaceship named Moya and its colorful convict crew.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
14 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Light-year.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/light-year. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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