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

Although the gravity of a black hole is intense—that’s its defining characteristic—the force drops off rapidly with distance. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 24 Apr. 2026

The immense gravity of the black hole heats the accretion disk, causing the powerful X-ray emissions associated with Cyg X-1. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Apr. 2026

Until now, a black hole’s jet power had to be averaged over tens of thousands of years, the researchers said. —Marcia Dunn, Los Angeles Times, 20 Apr. 2026

That energy is thought to be enough to completely destroy the star without leaving a remnant black hole behind. —ArsTechnica, 1 Apr. 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