light year

noun

Meaning

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year, approximately 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.

Examples

Astronomers measure the vast distances between galaxies in light years.
The light year serves as a standard unit for gauging cosmic scales.

Synonyms: distance, span, astronomical unit, parsec

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light year

noun

Pronunciation: /ˈlaɪt.jɪər/

Definition

The distance that light travels in a vacuum in one Julian year, approximately 5.88 trillion miles or 9.46 trillion kilometers.

Examples

Astronomers measure the vast distances between galaxies in light years.
The light year serves as a standard unit for gauging cosmic scales.

How to Use light year

in light years (prepositional phrase): Used to describe how far away an object is. — "The nebula is located several hundred light years away."
light years away (collocation): Used to describe extreme distance or, figuratively, a massive difference in quality. — "His new technology is light years away from what we had last year."

Synonyms of light year

Words with a similar meaning to light year:

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