Showing results for silverback. Search instead for Gorilla Silverback.

silverback

American

[sil-ver-bak] / ˈsɪl vərˌbæk /

noun

an older male gorilla, usually the leader of a troop, whose hairs along the back turn gray with age.

silverback British

/ ˈsɪlvəˌbæk /

noun

an older male gorilla with grey hair on its back

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of silverback

silver + back ¹

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.

The most recent primate was born Nov. 22 to 31-year-old N’djia and silverback Kelly, 38, whose daughter Angela in 2020 was the first gorilla born at the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 18, 2025

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the average silverback gorilla weighs around 30 stone or 420 pounds; the kids weighed in at a combined 477 pounds.

From Salon • Jun. 1, 2025

An admirer called him “the silverback gorilla of nerds.”

From New York Times • Apr. 3, 2024

Both babies were sired by Kiburi, a 19-year-old silverback brought to the zoo from Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands as part of a conservation breeding program to help preserve the critically endangered gorilla subspecies.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 25, 2024

Almost as if he believes I’m the silverback I’m pretending to be.

From "The One and Only Ivan" by Katherine Applegate

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023