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

• blank
• blankness
• emptiness
• vacancy
• vacuity
• void

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

Astronomers have captured the most energetic explosions ever recorded in the universe since the big bang as massive stars get ripped apart by supermassive black holes. —Jamie Carter, Forbes.com, 5 June 2025

But the black hole has entropy too, and the amount depends on the black hole’s surface area. —Charlie Wood, Quanta Magazine, 27 May 2025

For the last couple of years, first base had been a black hole for the Yankees, who watched Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu struggle. —Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 16 May 2025

The theory suggests a peculiar process occurs near the event horizon — the point of no return — around black holes. —Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 15 May 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