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
Stretching across 8 light-years, the rare stellar eruption is about twice the distance between our sun and the next nearest stars.
—
Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
Chi Cygni is about 500 light-years from the solar system.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Yet even among these strange, hard-to-classify celestial objects, The Accident, located 50 light-years from Earth and believed to be between 10 billion and 12 billion years old, stands out.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Within the Lobster Nebula, located 5500 light-years away, star cluster Pismis 24 has some of the brightest, youngest, most massive stars ever spotted within the Milky Way, as previously determined by Hubble.
—Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 8 Sep. 2025
Beyond distance, the counties are light-years away culturally and economically.
—David Mark, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
The long axis delivers the crucial 20-meter resolving power in one direction, enough to separate a planet from its star at 30 light-years.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2025
Eric Lagatta, USA Today, 12 Sep. 2025
Chi Cygni is about 500 light-years from the solar system.
—Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Yet even among these strange, hard-to-classify celestial objects, The Accident, located 50 light-years from Earth and believed to be between 10 billion and 12 billion years old, stands out.
—Robert Lea, Space.com, 11 Sep. 2025
Within the Lobster Nebula, located 5500 light-years away, star cluster Pismis 24 has some of the brightest, youngest, most massive stars ever spotted within the Milky Way, as previously determined by Hubble.
—Ethan Siegel, Big Think, 8 Sep. 2025
Beyond distance, the counties are light-years away culturally and economically.
—David Mark, The Washington Examiner, 5 Sep. 2025
The long axis delivers the crucial 20-meter resolving power in one direction, enough to separate a planet from its star at 30 light-years.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 3 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for light-years
Noun
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The win on Sunday follows a runner-up finish from worlds in 2023 and a sixth-place finish in the long jump at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.—
Cory Mull,
Forbes.com,
14 Sep. 2025
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Seen previously on models like NZXT’s own H6 Flow and the more recent APNX V1, angled fan mounts like those on the H9 Flow RGB offer the best of both worlds.—
Thomas Soderstrom,
PC Magazine,
13 Sep. 2025
Noun
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The winners of the 2025 ZWO Astronomy Photographer of the Year Award have been revealed, showcasing a spectacular selection of night sky images that reveal the majesty of ancient galaxies, nebulas, stellar cities and of course, Earth's moon.—
Anthony Wood,
Space.com,
12 Sep. 2025
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Dust is ubiquitous in the modern Universe, appearing in nearly all galaxies.—
Ethan Siegel,
Big Think,
12 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Light-years.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/light-years. Accessed 17 Sep. 2025.
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