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 means black holes emit no light, or electromagnetic radiation. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 28 Nov. 2025

This novel scenario, where cold gas streams collide to produce monster-sized stars that can quickly form black holes up to tens-of-thousands of solar masses, will soon be put to the ultimate test. —Big Think, 25 Nov. 2025

Nonetheless, that move alone isn’t enough to fill the fiscal black hole and other tax rises which could be announced Wednesday. —Holly Ellyatt, CNBC, 25 Nov. 2025

Still, many deportees enter a kind of black hole after they are sent abroad. —David Remnick, New Yorker, 24 Nov. 2025

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