light year
18
4.1
- noun
- /ˈlaɪt jɪr/
- Informal
:
año luz
- Brother, I am light years from that now.
- light years ahead
- light years away
But it also remains light years away from me.
- But it also remains light years away from me.
- But they're rock'n'roll is light years beyond what Deep Purple and, and even Black Sabbath were were doing it at their time.
- He's progressed, like I said, light years ahead of where he is.
- They are light years ahead of us, light years.
- But then you see Dave Chappelle get on, bro, and it's so fucking light years ahead.
- These particles drifted for eons and light years until gravity and change brought them together here now.
Examples
-
Large-scale genetic engineering is light-years beyond breeding in its risks.
Fiction book (1997) -
The planned community was light-years removed from the towns I'd passed through on my drive there.
Fiction book (1999) -
But it also remains light years away from me.
-
And then today where they are is like light years from where it started, but in a good way.
-
The library program is light years from where it was when I started.
Academic text (2011) -
Light years ahead of the competition.
-
She's light years beyond anyone else I ever taught.
-
Our problems of civility and professionalism are light years more complex and difficult than what Pound described.
Academic text (1998) -
In effect, the most brilliant minds often teleport light-years ahead of others because they are not confined by linear pen-and-paper thinking.
Academic text (2014) -
The new educational curriculum is light years ahead of what we had in the past.
Synonyms
4
5.6
Much more advanced than others in development and skill
How Far
Surface Forms
Morphology
The figurative meaning ('a very large distance or gap') is related to the literal astronomical unit: a light-year is how far light travels in one year, so the sense is partially inferable from the parts. However, understanding the magnitude and how it becomes a metaphor requires background knowledge (the speed/distance implication) that a B1 learner who only knows 'light' and 'year' may not have, so the relation is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Light year is used in a figurative way because a light year is such a very long distance; people say 'light years ahead' to mean 'much further ahead' in progress, skill, or quality.