missing link

noun

1

: an absent member needed to complete a series or resolve a problem

evidence that was the missing link to solve the crime

2

a

: a hypothetical intermediate evolutionary form between humans and their presumed simian progenitors

b

: a hypothetical intermediate evolutionary form between one animal species or group and its presumed ancestors

a missing link between reptiles and birds

Examples of missing link in a Sentence

Police are hopeful that the new evidence will provide the missing links needed to solve the crime.

scientists searching for the missing link

Recent Examples on the Web

The missing link in most AI strategies isn’t more compute. — David Noy, Forbes.com, 25 June 2026

The hair may be grayer, the paunches a little more pronounced, and the joints a little creakier, but the Jackass promise of delivering the missing link between the Three Stooges and a snuff film remains. — David Fear, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2026

Decades later, that mundane trip provided the missing link to break China’s monopoly on the global electric vehicle supply chain. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 28 May 2026

Could this be the missing link in our understanding of which mysterious violent events fling these intense particles toward Earth? — Robert Lea, Space.com, 13 May 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1851, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for missing link

• bobolink
• countersink
• bethink
• downlink
• groupthink
• hoodwink
• rethink
• uplink
• blink
• brink
• chink
• cinque

Kids Definition

missing link

noun

: a form of animal believed to have existed that shares characteristics with one animal group and the ancestors from which the group is thought to have evolved but has not been discovered in the fossil record

find the missing link between humans and apes