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 observational evidence has come from sources such as the first observation of ripples in spacetime caused by black hole collisions and the first image of a black hole published in 2019. —The Physics Arxiv Blog, Discover Magazine, 31 July 2024

Rights groups say the law has created a black hole ripe for the abuse and torture of Gazan detainees disappearing into military custody. —Miriam Berger, Washington Post, 29 July 2024

The baby black hole would produce jets of highly energetic particles moving near the speed of light, powerful enough to pierce through the remains of the progenitor star, emitting X-rays and gamma rays. —Jennifer Ouellette, Ars Technica, 26 July 2024

The purple X-ray glow detected by Chandra hints at this, suggesting the supermassive black hole—as well as smaller black holes or neutron stars—is pulling material from companion stars. —Carlyn Kranking, Smithsonian Magazine, 23 July 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1964, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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