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

Creating a black hole in a lab would be an amazing opportunity to learn more about how the universe works. — Stephen Dikerby, The Conversation, 29 June 2026

Scientists still don't know how this structure was formed and if the active black hole at the heart of Centaurus A played a role in its creation. — Robert Lea, Space.com, 7 July 2026

The bursts last a few milliseconds to a few hundred seconds, and are thought to be caused by the merger of two neutron stars (the short bursts), or the collapse of large stars, creating a black hole (the long ones). — Jeffrey Kluger, Time, 2 July 2026

The last stop in space took us to just outside the event horizon of Sagittarius A*, the unimaginably enormous black hole at the center of the Milky Way. — Rob Pegoraro, ArsTechnica, 3 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