Word.ws English Dictionary

God of the gaps

God of the gaps proper noun: a God whose existence is put forward as an explanation for anything as yet unexplained by science.

Proper noun

God of the gaps

  1. A God whose existence is put forward as an explanation for anything as yet unexplained by science.
    • With every new discovery, the 'god of the gaps' has fewer places to hide.2007, "Worried about my future family." Axismundi, July 2007, Internet Infidels Discussion Board.

Origin of God of the gaps

Attributed to Charles Coulson (1910−1974), though the concept was discussed significantly earlier.

Words formed from God of the gaps

Questions about God of the gaps

What does God of the gaps mean?
God of the gaps means a God whose existence is put forward as an explanation for anything as yet unexplained by science.
What part of speech is God of the gaps?
God of the gaps is a proper noun.

Words near God of the gaps in the dictionary

  1. god mode
  2. god modes
  3. God molecule
  4. God object
  5. God objects
  6. God of the gaps
  7. God of War
  8. God only knows
  9. God particle
  10. God particles
  11. God preserve us

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: God of the gaps (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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