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.

See Examples For:

silverback

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

Ramses, a silverback that turned 53 this year, currently lives at the Fort Worth Zoo in Texas.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2024

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

As if a silverback could ever be cute.

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