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

• 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

The less massive black hole moves on an elongated, elliptical orbit. —Keith Cooper, Space.com, 1 Aug. 2025

Astronomers still aren’t sure how supermassive black holes form. —Phil Plait, Scientific American, 31 July 2025

To Medeiros, black holes are a laboratory for studying the universe. —Andrew Montequin, jsonline.com, 24 July 2025

Such an improvement would enable LIGO to see merging black holes of different sizes, as well as potential surprises. —Quanta Magazine, 21 July 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