black hole

black hole

noun

Definition of BLACK HOLE

1

: a celestial object that has a gravitational field so strong that light cannot escape it and that is believed to be created especially in the collapse of a very massive star

2

: something resembling a black hole: as

a : something that consumes a resource continually <a financial black hole>

b : an empty space : void

Examples of BLACK HOLE

1. <a psychopath who seemingly has a black hole where his heart should be>

First Known Use of BLACK HOLE

1964

Related to BLACK HOLE

Synonyms

vacancy, blank, blankness, emptiness, vacuity, void

Related Words

nothingness; inane, vacuum; air, open, waste; bareness, barrenness, bleakness, desolateness, hollowness; cavity, gap, hole, hollow

Near Antonyms

fullness (also fulness), repleteness

Rhymes with BLACK HOLE

airhole, armhole, atoll, bankroll, beadroll, bedroll, blackpoll, blowhole, borehole, bunghole, cajole, catchpole, charcoal, chuckhole, condole, console, control, creole, Creole, dipole, drumroll, dry hole, Dutch roll, egg roll, enroll, ensoul, extol, eyehole, field goal, fishbowl, flagpole, foxhole, funk hole, hard coal, half sole, heart-whole, hellhole, Huichol, inscroll, insole, in whole, keyhole, kneehole, knothole, leaf roll, logroll, loophole, manhole, maypole, midsole, Mongol, outsole, parole, patrol, payroll, peephole, pesthole, pinhole, pistole, pitchpole, porthole, posthole, pothole, redpoll, ridgepole, Sheol, shot hole, sinkhole, ski pole, slipsole, snap roll, sotol, sound hole, spring roll, tadpole, taphole, thumbhole, top-hole, touchhole, unroll, washbowl, weep hole, white hole, wormhole

black hole

noun    (Concise Encyclopedia)

Cosmic body with gravity (see gravitation) so intense that nothing, not even light, can escape. It is suspected to form in the death and collapse of a star that has retained at least three times the Sun's mass. Stars with less mass evolve into white dwarf stars or neutron stars. Details of a black hole's structure are calculated from Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity: a “singularity” of zero volume and infinite density pulls in all matter and energy that comes within an event horizon, defined by the Schwarzschild radius, around it. Black holes cannot be observed directly because they are small and emit no light. However, their enormous gravitational fields affect nearby matter, which is drawn in and emits X rays as it collides at high speed outside the event horizon. Some black holes may have nonstellar origins. Astronomers speculate that supermassive black holes at the centres of quasars and many galaxies are the source of energetic activity that is observed. Stephen W. Hawking theorized the creation of numerous tiny black holes, possibly no more massive than an asteroid, during the big bang. These primordial “mini black holes” lose mass over time and disappear as a result of Hawking radiation. Although black holes remain theoretical, the case for their existence is supported by many observations of phenomena that match their predicted effects.