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

There are no mirrors, just a tube TV, a cement floor, and the silhouettes of four palm trees lit like a black hole. — Literary Hub, 5 Aug. 2026

That gives scientists a rare and fleeting insight into the connection that exists between matter falling to the maw of a black hole and the material being blasted out at near light-speed as jets of plasma. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 3 Aug. 2026

Using all-too-brief TDEs to spot wandering black holes can make in-depth follow-up research difficult, according to Pieter van Dokkum, an astrophysicist at Yale University. — Mary Randolph, Scientific American, 29 July 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