missing link

[ mis-ing lingk ]

noun

1. a hypothetical form of animal assumed to have constituted a connecting link between the anthropoid apes and humans, identified by some authorities as constituting the genus Australopithecus.
2. something lacking for the completion of a series or sequence:

   It’s tricky to find the missing link between children’s books and adult fiction.

missing link

noun

1. the missing link
   sometimes capitals a hypothetical extinct animal or animal group, formerly thought to be intermediate between the anthropoid apes and man
2. any missing section or part in an otherwise complete series

missing link

1. A supposed animal midway in evolution between apes and humans. The term is based on a misunderstanding about the theory of evolution, which does not state that humans are descended from apes, but rather maintains that both humans and apes descended from a common ancestor. Modern evolutionary scientists do not search for a “missing link.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of missing link¹

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

MIT Professor Eric Alm thinks that sewers are the missing link to tracking public health.

From The Daily Beast

For Hockney to have the missing link presented to him there in his atelier was a real thrill for him.

From The Daily Beast

He sees fatherhood as the missing link, the key to full happiness.

From The Daily Beast

The exhibit was intended as an example of the "missing link" between the orangutan and white man.

From The Daily Beast

Who knew that Anna Maria Alberghetti was the missing link in your life?

From The Daily Beast

"The missing link," added the nephew, with the joyous certainty of one about to negotiate a loan.

From Project Gutenberg

Haeckel admits that the belief that this is the missing link is strongly combatted by some distinguished scientists.

From Project Gutenberg

Mother seems to be the missing link that connects me with Pittsburg and everything else.

From Project Gutenberg

There is no missing link to the chain that connects the first and lowest life to the last and the highest.

From Project Gutenberg

The expression, "the missing link," is nowhere used by Darwin—that was a creation of one of his critics.

From Project Gutenberg