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

• blank
• blankness
• emptiness
• vacancy
• vacuity
• void

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

Or rather, the slow, clinging descent down the dinghy’s slippery three-step ladder into what might as well have been a black hole, the water was so opaque. —Billie Cohen, AFAR Media, 30 Apr. 2025

Like the lingering chime of a struck bell, tiny ripples in the fabric of spacetime are created when massive objects like black holes spiral toward each other and merge into a single, larger black hole. —Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 30 Apr. 2025

Even the galaxy’s central supermassive black hole, which is more than 2,000 times more massive than the Milky Way’s central black hole, is fairly calm. —Alan Taylor, The Atlantic, 28 Apr. 2025

Throughout Joe Biden’s presidency, with Gary Gensler at the helm of the SEC, the US became less of a regulatory gray area than a black hole for operators – even those willing to play ball. —Sean Lee, Forbes.com, 27 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1964, 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