gorilla
gorilla Lexical Profile
gorilla Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A powerfully built, herbivorous great ape native to the forests of central Sub-Saharan Africa, recognized as the largest living primate.
"The wildlife documentary captured a silverback gorilla leading his troop through the dense mountain vegetation."
A dominant, powerful, or highly influential entity or person; often used metaphorically to describe a market leader or an imposing, brutish individual.
"With billions of dollars in revenue, the multinational corporation is considered the 800-pound gorilla of the tech industry."
Word Nuance & Usage
Frequently confused with its homophone 'guerrilla', particularly in the phrase 'guerrilla warfare', which refers to irregular military tactics rather than the animal.
• Rhymes for gorilla
Word Origin & Etymology
Derived from Greek 'Gorillai', described in a 5th-century BC account by Carthaginian navigator Hanno as a tribe of hairy women on the African coast. It was applied to the great ape in 1847 by American physician and missionary Thomas S. Savage.