black hole

noun

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: such as

a

: something that consumes a resource continually

a financial black hole

b

: an empty space : void

… the archives of the past few years are a black hole.

—David Herman

c

: a dark and seemingly inescapable state or situation

the black hole of depression

Synonyms of black hole

• emptiness
• vacancy
• void
• blank

Examples of black hole in a Sentence

discovered that there was a black hole in the library's collection with regard to her topic

Recent Examples on the Web

Is the universe just a black hole that is inside another universe that’s inside a black hole, that’s all black holes all the way down? — Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 15 Sep. 2026

Scientists are uncovering clues that suggest cosmic rays come from extremely hot and faraway areas of the universe, ejected by exploding stars and powerful objects called supermassive black holes. — Jesse Liu, The Conversation, 14 Sep. 2026

Many astronomers concluded that big black holes dotted the universe, washing out the light of the stars in their host galaxies. — Quanta Magazine, 14 Sep. 2026

Planting fake dark matter signals There are several candidates for what dark matter could be, including primordial black holes or an undiscovered particle. — Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 14 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for black hole

• bankroll
• bedroll
• borehole
• cajole
• catchpole
• charcoal
• condole
• control
• dipole
• downhole
• enroll
• extol

Kids Definition

black hole

noun

: an invisible region believed to exist in space having a very strong gravitational field and thought to be caused by the collapse of a star