Dictionary

spaghettify en · VERB

Etymology

Back-formation from spaghettification, equivalent to spaghetti + -fy.

Meanings

1. (ambitransitive) To stretch an object into a long thin shape under the influence of a very strong gravitational field gradient, such as found near a black hole.
   • First, the intense gravitational forces around a black hole may 'spaghettify' space travellers before they even reach the event horizon, and second, the theory may be fully confirmed only if someone were prepared to test it. 2013, David Wilkinson, Science, Religion, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence:
   • big bangs are not blackholes. You mix shit together. A blackhole likely panificates or spaghettifies at its surface, before entering the horizon. 2023 July 20, Nicky Hazanovich, “Re: Length contraction cannot cease”, in sci.math (Usenet), archived from the original on 02 Jul 2026:
   • If, for example, a black hole eats enough to triple its mass, then it will have grown three times as wide. For this reason, black holes in the universe can be almost any size, but not all of them will spaghettify you before you cross the event horizon. 2007, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Death by Black Hole:

Forms

Translations (2)

fr spaghettifier (Translations) · pt espaguetificar (Translations)