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

This statistical black hole fuels wild speculation. —Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 12 Dec. 2025

Astronomers have observed a star wobbling in its orbit around a ravenous supermassive black hole that is ripping it apart and feasting on its stellar material. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 12 Dec. 2025

My strategy was to come in and play like the super messy black hole. —Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 11 Dec. 2025

As the flare faded, the black hole suddenly hurled out ultra-fast winds at one-fifth the speed of light, giving scientists the clearest look yet at how violent flares trigger powerful outflows. —Neetika Walter, Interesting Engineering, 9 Dec. 2025

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