1
: a unit of length in astronomy equal to the distance that light travels in one year in a vacuum or about 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers)
2
: an extremely large measure of comparison (as of distance, time, or quality)
seems like light-years ago
has light-years more talent
two minutes and yet light-years away from the crowded village—
Suzanne Patterson
Suzanne PattersonExamples of light-year in a Sentence
my sister and I are close in age, but personality-wise, there are light-years between us
Recent Examples on the Web
In the engineers who built a telescope that can see planets 13 billion light-years away.
—Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 11 Feb. 2026
The findings come from a close look at the HR 8799 system, a young, sun-like star about 133 light-years from Earth that hosts four enormous gas giants orbiting far from their parent star.
—Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 10 Feb. 2026
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
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Baltimore Sun Staff, Baltimore Sun, 11 Feb. 2026
The findings come from a close look at the HR 8799 system, a young, sun-like star about 133 light-years from Earth that hosts four enormous gas giants orbiting far from their parent star.
—Samantha Mathewson, Space.com, 10 Feb. 2026
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
See All Example Sentences for light-year
Cite this Entry
“Light-year.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/light-year. Accessed 14 Feb. 2026.
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