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
This work was done using Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, which can see tens of millions of light-years into the universe while still managing to capture incredible details of objects like M88.
—
Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 10 June 2026
This dazzling celestial object, dubbed the Crystal Ball Nebula, lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth in the Taurus constellation.
—Daniel Wine, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
Vega is 26 light-years away from Earth, with one light-year equaling nearly six trillion miles.
—Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 7 June 2026
The star system in question, HD 81809, lies in the constellation Hydra and is roughly 90 to 101 light-years from Earth.
—Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 6 June 2026
Despite being located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, M88 is a fairly bright object in the night sky.
—Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 30 May 2026
Chelsea Gohd, Space.com, 10 June 2026
This dazzling celestial object, dubbed the Crystal Ball Nebula, lies about 1,500 light-years from Earth in the Taurus constellation.
—Daniel Wine, CNN Money, 9 June 2026
Vega is 26 light-years away from Earth, with one light-year equaling nearly six trillion miles.
—Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 7 June 2026
The star system in question, HD 81809, lies in the constellation Hydra and is roughly 90 to 101 light-years from Earth.
—Christopher McFadden, Interesting Engineering, 6 June 2026
Despite being located about 60 million light-years away in the constellation Coma Berenices, M88 is a fairly bright object in the night sky.
—Adam Kovac, Scientific American, 30 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for light-years
Noun
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Tacey Powers, executive vice president and general merchandise manager of shoes at Nordstrom, praised Adidas in a statement for its commitment to bringing the best of both worlds to the retailer’s customers.—
Stephen Garner,
Footwear News,
4 June 2026
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This particular chunk of space rock, known as NWA 12774, preserves an unusual chemical signature that suggests some of the solar system's earliest worlds developed differently from other rocky planets, researchers say.—
Sharmila Kuthunur,
Space.com,
4 June 2026
Noun
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This is where constellations like Leo, Virgo and Coma Berenices host dozens of faint galaxies — most invisible to the naked eye and small optical-only telescopes, even in excellent conditions.—
Jamie Carter,
Space.com,
6 June 2026
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Scientists can draw on it to identify and study 100,000 exoplanets, hundreds of millions of galaxies, billions of stars, and rare objects and phenomena — including some that astronomers have never witnessed before.—
Richard Tribou,
The Orlando Sentinel,
4 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Light-years.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/light-years. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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