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light-year definition

light·-year (-yir′)

noun

  1. Astron. a unit of distance equal to the distance that light travels in a vacuum in one year, c. 9,460,000,000,000 km (5,880,000,000,000 mi): abbrev. lt-yr or ly
  2. a very great distance, amount of time, etc.: usually used in pl. light-years ahead in basic research
Also written light year

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

light-year Usage Examples

Preposition: from

  • earth: W43A is about 8,500 light-years from Earth in the direction of the constellation Aquila, the eagle.

Converse of object

  • lie: The Galaxy represents an island of 300 billion stars lying 2.2 million light-years from us.

Preposition: in

  • diameter: The sparkling blue ring is 150,000 light-years in diameter, making it larger than our entire home galaxy, the Milky Way.
light-year usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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"light-year." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 5 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/light-year>

APA Style

light-year. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 5th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/light-year

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