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 result would be an unprecedented test of general relativity around a supermassive black hole. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 21 Feb. 2026

Galaxies will dissociate due to gravitational interactions, ejecting all masses and leaving only supermassive black holes behind. —Big Think, 20 Feb. 2026

The artist has described herself as a black hole where people can dump their feelings, but her music moves beyond ugly emotions toward catharsis. —Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 20 Feb. 2026

The energy for this comes from the black holes’ orbital motion. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 13 Feb. 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