light-year
noun
the distance traversed by light in one mean solar year, about 5.88 trillion mi. (9.46 trillion km): used as a unit in measuring stellar distances. lt-yr
light-years
-
pluralof light-year.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
A star system just 16 light-years from Earth has puzzled astronomers for more than 170 years.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 30, 2026
Astronomers have discovered three actively feeding supermassive black holes in a single galaxy more than 12.5 billion light-years from Earth.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
The third is much farther out, approximately 5,500 light-years from the center.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 25, 2026
Astronomers have discovered an unusual star system about 300 light-years from Earth where a small star is gradually consuming a nearby brown dwarf.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 10, 2026
Several million light-years across, it is composed of some twenty constituent galaxies.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
