LIGHT YEAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does light year mean? 

• LIGHT YEAR (noun)
  The noun LIGHT YEAR has 1 sense:

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

  Familiarity information: LIGHT YEAR used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIGHT YEAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

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

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

light-year; light year

Hypernyms ("light year" is a kind of...):

astronomy unit (a linear unit used for astronomical distances)

Meronyms (parts of "light year"):

light hour (the distance light travels in a vacuum in one hour; approximately one billion kilometers)

light minute (the distance light travels in a vacuum in one minute; approximately 18 million kilometers)

light second (the distance light travels in a vacuum in one second; approximately 300,000 kilometers)

 Context examples 

This corresponds to less than one hundredth of a light year.

(Giant Black Hole Pair Photobombs Andromeda Galaxy, NASA)

One light year is equal to 63239.7 astronomical units, 0.3066 parsecs, 5.88E12 miles, or 9.460528405E15 meters.

(Light-Year, NCI Thesaurus)