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

This would have been a primordial black hole (PBH), a hypothesized object formed in the universe’s earliest moments. — Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American, 2 Oct. 2026

The team's findings reveal clear fingerprints of the impact black hole jets have in disrupting potential star-forming material even right out to the circumgalactic medium. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 2 Oct. 2026

Soaking the suburbs over parking is reminiscent of other foolish, revenue-grabbing ideas, such as a congestion tax aimed at outsiders as a way to gin up money to cover Chicago’s ever-present budget black hole. — The Editorial Board, Chicago Tribune, 1 Oct. 2026

Named after fast-flying birds, the telescope could quickly pivot to observe blink-and-you-miss-it cosmic events like flaring black holes. — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 30 Sep. 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