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

In other words, there’s a way to disconnect without being sucked into the black hole of the algorithm. —Kian Bakhtiari, Forbes.com, 14 June 2026

These accretion disks gradually feed some matter to the black hole. —Robert Lea, Space.com, 14 June 2026

Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity predicts that these spacetime pathways can form under intensely bending, rotating space—such as around a spinning black hole. —Clara Moskowitz, Scientific American, 12 June 2026

The recto portrays, in exactingly realistic detail, a locked and beat-up steel rolldown gate, as only the Lower East Side knows them, perforated with 15 black holes begging to be poked through. —Lori Waxman, Chicago Tribune, 10 June 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