great ape

American

[greyt eyp] / ˈgreɪt ˈeɪp /

noun

any extant or extinct member of the family Hominidae, or hominids: its extant species include humans, chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans.

great ape British

noun

any of the larger anthropoid apes, such as the chimpanzee, orang-utan, or gorilla

"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

great ape Scientific

/ grāt /

See anthropoid ape

Etymology

Origin of great ape

First recorded in 1770–75

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:

great ape

The experts studied chimpanzees and bonobos living at two great ape sanctuaries in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

The area is home to the world's rarest great ape, the tapanuli orangutan, just 800 of which were believed to exist in the wild before the disaster.

From Barron's ● Feb. 19, 2026

As exciting as this great ape baby boom is for L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 18, 2025

It is pristine, primary forest renowned for being a sanctuary for the largest population of bonobos, a species of great ape found only in the Congo.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 2, 2024

I am a great ape, and you are a great ape, and so are chimpanzees and orangutans and bonobos, all of us distant and distrustful cousins.

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