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

The ship's Gravity Drive — which, appropriately, looks like an elaborate torture device from a horror movie — uses a black hole to fold space, creating a gateway between two distant locations. —Richard Edwards, Space.com, 14 Mar. 2025

That explanation agrees with theories such as black hole cosmology, which postulates that the entire universe is the interior of a black hole. —Paul Smaglik, Discover Magazine, 13 Mar. 2025

Some people think that means the black hole forms before the galaxy, and the galaxy forms around the black hole, Satyapal notes. —Brian Handwerk, Smithsonian Magazine, 7 Mar. 2025

Einstein’s theory has survived a host of experimental verification, from the orbits of planets in the solar system to the behavior of black holes. —Paul M. Sutter, Scientific American, 26 Feb. 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