black hole

noun

Synonyms of black holenext
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

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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
As the North bore down on Saigon, Thieu begged for American financial support, but Congress was in no mood to pour more millions into the black hole of Southeast Asia. Louis Menand, New Yorker, 13 Apr. 2026 By studying data from the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Collaboration, researchers now argue that black hole mergers actually fall into three distinct families, each shaped by a different origin. Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 12 Apr. 2026 Like all black holes, primordial black holes have mass and thus interact with gravity and are effectively invisible due to the fact that they are bounded by a light-trapping surface called an event horizon. Robert Lea, Space.com, 10 Apr. 2026 That’s not clickbait: shock waves, specifically in catastrophically high-energy structures such as the focused beams of matter and energy pouring forth from a supermassive black hole. Phil Plait, Scientific American, 3 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for black hole

Word History

First Known Use

1963, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of black hole was in 1963

Cite this Entry

“Black hole.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/black%20hole. Accessed 14 Apr. 2026.

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

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