light years ahead
4
5.6
- idiom
- /laɪt jɪrz əˈhɛd/
- Informal
:
muy por delante
- Light years ahead of the competition.
He's progressed, like I said, light years ahead of where he is.
- 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.
Examples
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Clearly, corporate pension accounting is light-years ahead of the governmental world.
Blog text (2) -
In terms of environmental protection, that stance is light-years ahead of the tuna-dolphin ruling from ten years ago.
Academic text (2001) -
That technology, it's light years ahead of us.
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This man is light years ahead of the field.
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It's light years ahead of what anyone else is doing in the field.
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You are light years ahead in knowledge, and this is a waste of your time.
Blog text (26) -
It's light years ahead of the Sea Sparrows our ships have now.
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When it comes to natural gifts, Taylor Swift is light years ahead of her contemporaries.
Blog text (11) -
The Volkswagens get better mileage on the whole, and their diesel vehicles are light years ahead of the competition, particularly GM.
Blog text (13) -
My goodness, this video chat app is light years ahead of anything else out there on the market.
Synonyms
17
7.4
Having ideas or work more modern than most people of the time
15
5.6
Having more knowledge or skill than most others in a field
5
4.3
Much more prepared and able to guess what will happen than other people
1
7.7
Ahead of most others in new ideas or tools
Much better than others in the same field
Antonyms
How Advanced
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase combines the unit 'light years' (denoting a very large distance) with 'ahead', so its meaning 'far in advance' is a direct metaphorical extension of the constituents rather than an arbitrary idiom. This composition is cross-linguistically common (e.g., Spanish 'años luz', French 'à des années‑lumière') and follows a straightforward pattern that a B1 learner who knows the parts can infer.
Etymology
Light years ahead comes from a space image: a 'light year' is a very long distance, so if something is many light years ahead it is far in front of others. That's why the phrase means 'much more advanced than others'.