black box
/ˈblæk.bɒx/
black box noun: a flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident.
Noun
black box (plural black boxes)
- A flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident.
- scrutinizing all utterances recorded by the black box
- Synonyms:
- event recorder, opaque box, trip recorder
- Any similar device on motor vehicles, such as rail event recorders and ship trip recorders.
- the pilothouse's analogue of an airliner's black box
- A theoretical construct or device with known input and output characteristics but unknown method of operation.
- The authentication method and its details can be treated as a black box for purposes of this security architecture overview.
- A device used in phreaking that prevents the calling party from being billed for the call placed.
- A type of theater characterized by a lack of decoration or complex mechanisms.
- Synonym of football (“the leather briefcase containing classified nuclear war plans which is always near the US President”)
- Synonyms:
- football
Verb
black box (third-person singular simple present black boxes, present participle black boxing, simple past and past participle black boxed)
- To focus on the inputs and outputs without worrying about the internal complexity.
black box meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Arabic and Malay
black box in Hindi
- recorders in an aircraft
- ब्लैक बॉक्स blaik bŏks
black box in Tamil
- recorders in an aircraft
- கருப்புப்பெட்டி karuppuppeṭṭi, கரும்பெட்டி karumpeṭṭi
black box in Arabic
- recorders in an aircraft
- صُنْدُوق أَسْوَد ṣundūq ʔaswad
- theoretical construct or device
- صُنْدُوق أَسْوَد ṣundūq ʔaswad
black box in Malay
- recorders in an aircraft
- kotak hitam
More languagesFewer languages
- black box in Indonesian
- kotak hitam
- black box in Persian
- جعبه سیاه ja'be-ye siyâh
- black box in Thai
- กล่องดำ glɔ̀ng-dam
- black box in Vietnamese
- hộp đen
Synonyms of black box
Forms of black box
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | black boxes |
| alternative form | blackbox |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | black boxes |
| present participle | black boxing |
| past participle | black boxed |
| past | black boxed |
Origin of black box
* Since c. 1945 in both main senses (that is, event recorders and objects with unknown innards), which are historically related to each other; for details, see black box § History and flight recorder § Terminology. * (a type of theater): Such theaters are often painted black.
Questions about black box
- What does black box mean?
- Black box means a flight recorder; the brightly colored cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders in an aircraft designed to aid in determining the cause of an accident.
- What is black box in Hindi?
- Black box in Hindi is ब्लैक बॉक्स (blaik bŏks). See Black box meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is black box?
- Black box can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce black box?
- Black box is pronounced /ˈblæk.bɒx/.
- What is the plural of black box?
- The plural of black box is black boxes.
Words near black box in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: black box (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-black box.wav.
Cite this entry: “black box.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/black_box. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.