missing link
noun
Simple meaning
A hypothetical primate once thought necessary to explain a perceived evolutionary gap between apes and humans.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
misihnglingkSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈmɪsɪŋˈlɪŋk
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
colloquial
A hypothetical primate once thought necessary to explain a perceived evolutionary gap between apes and humans.
figuratively
Any sought-after or valuable intermediary figure or position.
colloquial
Hypothetical organism formerly thought to be intermediate between apes and human beings
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A hypothetical primate once thought necessary to explain a perceived evolutionary gap between apes and humans.
Used this way, missing link is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Playful
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.