gorilla
Americannoun
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a terrestrial, largely vegetarian great ape of the genus Gorilla , inhabiting central African forests: possessing great upper body strength, with arms longer and more muscular than its legs, it is noted for its knuckle-walking and is larger than any other living primate.
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an ugly, brutish person.
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Slang. a hoodlum or thug, especially one who threatens or inflicts violence.
Like any mob boss, he sent his gorillas to do the dirty work.
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Disparaging and Offensive. (used as a slur against a member of a racial or ethnic minority group, especially a Black person.)
noun
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the largest anthropoid ape, Gorilla gorilla, inhabiting the forests of central W Africa. It is stocky and massive, with a short muzzle and coarse dark hair
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informal a large, strong, and brutal-looking man
Sensitive Note
See simianization.
Other Word Forms
- gorilla-like adjective
- gorillalike adjective
- gorillian adjective
- gorilline adjective
- gorilloid adjective
Etymology
Origin of gorilla
First recorded in 1845–50; from New Latin, from Greek Goríllās (accusative plural) name for the females of a hairy tribe encountered in an account of a voyage along the coast of Africa made by the Carthaginian Hanno in the 5th century b.c.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Winter weather is really the 800-pound gorilla that swings it one way or another as a known unknown factor,” he said.
Similar cases involving cheetahs from Syria, a gorilla from Haiti, and bonobos from Iraq are among those questioned by CITES.
From Barron's
Two fossils shared an amino acid sequence found in humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas, while the others had a version so far unique to Paranthropus.
From Science Daily
YouTube TV has become an 800-pound gorilla in the media business.
These included seven hominid species, or "great apes,"** such as humans, gorillas and chimpanzees, and nine hylobatid species, or "lesser apes,"*** such as gibbons.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
