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

Comprising 1,650 radio dishes, the telescope aims to study black holes, spinning dead stars and radio bursts from deep space. — Jeremy Mikula, NBC news, 21 June 2026

It is credited with being the first system to capture images of collision between large astronomical objects and providing strong proof on the road to confirming that supermassive black holes exist. — Eleanor Jacobs, PEOPLE, 21 June 2026

The team applied their method to 14 different galaxies, finding in five cases that mass increases moving away from the central black hole in a way that couldn't be accounted for by visible matter alone. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 20 June 2026

Beyond these big questions, the DSA will also trace the step-by-step formation of stars in young galaxies, and observe energetic outbursts from gluttonous black holes. — Joseph Howlett, Scientific American, 18 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