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

Using all-too-brief TDEs to spot wandering black holes can make in-depth follow-up research difficult, according to Pieter van Dokkum, an astrophysicist at Yale University. — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 29 July 2026

Miller said his dad used to sit in his firehouse, clipping newspaper stories on dark matter and black holes to send to his son. — Lisa Song, CNN Money, 28 July 2026

The study of these gory stellar events so early in the history of the universe could help reveal how supermassive black holes grew so big, so rapidly. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 22 July 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