Meanings
- rarecreationismEvolution, when used as an explanation for anything that is yet unexplained by science.
It is therefore clear how an evolution-of-the-gaps could be just as metaphysically motivated for an incautious atheist as a God-of-the-gaps could be for an incautious theist.
2010, Michael L. Peterson, Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings, Oxford University Press, USA1 more example
Well, this is 'evolution-of-the-gaps.' Some scientists merely insert evolution when they don't understand something. “Look —we may not understand everything about these biological systems, but we do know some things.”
2009, Lee Strobel, The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God, Zondervan, →ISBN
Origin
By analogy to God of the gaps.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
evolution of the gaps. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/evolution%20of%20the%20gaps
“evolution of the gaps.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/evolution%20of%20the%20gaps. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “evolution of the gaps,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/evolution%20of%20the%20gaps.
Source: evolution of the gaps on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.