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

The collision of two black holes is often likened to the striking of a bell, which is why the fading signal that follows is known as a ringdown. — Sam MacDonald, Scientific American, 26 June 2026

To escape the gravitational grip of a black hole from this point, matter would have to accelerate to a speed faster than the speed of light, which Einstein's theory of special relativity tells us would require infinite energy. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 26 June 2026

These black holes range from hundreds of thousands to millions or billions of times more massive than our Sun. — Mary Ogborn, The Conversation, 25 June 2026

Jets and winds from black holes are textbook physics, and scientists have observed many supermassive black holes hurling them into space. — Jacopo Prisco, CNN Money, 16 June 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