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

Such a theory is a prerequisite for answering big questions such as what goes on at the heart of a black hole. — Quanta Magazine, 26 Aug. 2026

The cosmos may be speckled with black hole stars, celestial entities that have the properties of both black holes and stars. — Devika Rao, TheWeek, 26 Aug. 2026

By tracking the star, scientists hope to probe how the supermassive black hole spins. — Adithi Ramakrishnan, Los Angeles Times, 23 Aug. 2026

This process would continue until Dark Stars reached masses millions of times that of the sun and collapsed under their own gravity, creating massive black holes; seeds that collide and merge to form supermassive black holes. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Aug. 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