as in worlds
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-years
The galaxy's red and orange spiral arms bending outward can measure tens or even hundreds of light-years across.
—
Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 13 May 2026
The magnifying glass The LAP1-B is 13 billion light-years away from Earth.
—Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 13 May 2026
The nearby universe refers to regions within about one billion light-years of Earth.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 12 May 2026
These shards travel billions of light-years across the universe and slam into Earth’s atmosphere.
—Quanta Magazine, 6 May 2026
From within our own galaxy to behemoths billions of light-years away, supermassive black holes create jets like nothing else in the cosmos.
—Big Think, 4 May 2026
Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 13 May 2026
The magnifying glass The LAP1-B is 13 billion light-years away from Earth.
—Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 13 May 2026
The nearby universe refers to regions within about one billion light-years of Earth.
—Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 12 May 2026
These shards travel billions of light-years across the universe and slam into Earth’s atmosphere.
—Quanta Magazine, 6 May 2026
From within our own galaxy to behemoths billions of light-years away, supermassive black holes create jets like nothing else in the cosmos.
—Big Think, 4 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for light-years
Noun
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Although the population size seems to be stable, threats from climate change — rising ocean levels surrounding small islands — and from the ongoing loss of their habitat to human development will take a toll on their already fragile island worlds over the coming decades.—
Craig Stanford,
Big Think,
7 May 2026
-
The tinted eye cream makes the clever case for best of both worlds.—
Audrey Noble,
Vogue,
7 May 2026
Noun
-
To get to the bottom of things, though, the team behind the new research examined the host galaxies and environments of LFBOTs to try to pin down what the progenitors of these explosive events could really be.—
Robert Lea,
Space.com,
8 May 2026
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Yet the outcome of the big bang was somehow a tiny sliver more matter than antimatter—all the galaxies, dust and living things in the universe belong to this minuscule excess.—
Joseph Howlett,
Scientific American,
8 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Light-years.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/light-years. Accessed 14 May. 2026.
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