Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The distance traversed by light in one year; the unit usually employed in expressing the distances of the fixed stars: for example, the distance of a Centauri is light-years.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • (Astron.) The distance over which light can travel in a year's time in a vacuum, 5.88 trillion miles (9.46 trillion kilometers); -- used as a unit in expressing stellar distances. It is more than 63,000 times as great as the distance from the earth to the sun. The star nearest to the earth's sun is about 4 light years distant.
  • a very large difference; -- used figuratively to express great differences (of distance, quality, time) in comparisons.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Alternative spelling of light year.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1 year; 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers
  • noun the distance that light travels in a vacuum in 1 year; 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Because the distances in space are so vast, scientists use a unit called the light-year to measure them.

    The Source John Clayton Nils Jansma 2001

  • Because the distances in space are so vast, scientists use a unit called the light-year to measure them.

    The Source John Clayton Nils Jansma 2001

  • It's ironic that Sylvia Hermon (by a small light-year the nicest, most liberal, most intelligent and best intentioned of the NI MPs) is also the "cheapest".

    Throwing the baby out with the bath water Norfolk Blogger 2009

  • They think nothing of jaunting off on ten thousand plus light-year journeys, expecting to meet up again eons in the future with nary a hiccup (except, of course, for the events in the story).

    The SF Fanatic: SF Explores The Ideas Mainstream Fiction Won't 2010

  • So The Voice took a job in New York City's garment center, one block and a light-year from The Great White Way.

    Sharon Glassman: Mollie O'Brien: New CD, Saintly Sinnin' Sound Sharon Glassman 2010

  • And some space opera - eg Iain M Banks 'Culture' novels - can get highly technical, without ever coming within a light-year of being hard SF.

    mikandra: a thought about Science Fiction mikandra 2010

  • It seems a light-year away from Week 2, though, when he also was helmetless late, then because he ' d flung his helmet into the Indianapolis stands, frustrated and confused.

    Winning the Ground War Aditi Kinkhabwala 2010

  • The Romulans are out there, just one light-year beyond Federation space.

    Delta Anomaly Rick Barba 2010

  • If your decoy lures them as far as a light-year off, you will be outside their hyperwave detection range and can embark on a roundabout homeward voyage.

    Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror: A Circus Of Hells - Poul Anderson Blue Tyson 2008

  • The Romulans are out there, just one light-year beyond Federation space.

    Delta Anomaly Rick Barba 2010

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