: a very large typically black-colored great ape (Gorilla gorilla) of equatorial Africa that has a stocky body with broad shoulders and long arms and is less erect and has smaller ears than the chimpanzee
She hired some gorilla as her bodyguard.
the loan shark sent a couple of gorillas to “convince” him to pay up
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Both gorillas and chimpanzees are endangered, and most gorilla species are critically endangered.—Tim Dunn, Boston Herald, 3 Apr. 2026 She was attacked in 2007 following the gorilla’s escape from his zoo enclosure (gorillas are threatened by smiling and eye contact).—Benjamin Royer, Oc Register, 3 Apr. 2026 This month, Netflix is taking viewers in-depth on everything from their favorite artists' lives to the inner workings of gorillas and new evidence in the killing of cyclist Moriah Wilson.—Madeleine Janz, PEOPLE, 2 Apr. 2026 Goodall, Fossey and Galdikas showed that chimpanzees make tools and wage political struggles, that gorillas live in complex family groups, and that orangutans raise their young with a patience and investment that rivals that of humans.—Mireya Mayor, The Conversation, 27 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for gorilla
Word History
Etymology
New Latin, from Greek Gorillai, plural, a tribe of hairy women mentioned in an account of a voyage around Africa