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

"They took us to an area where we saw a group of gorillas within Sanga National Park. I was about five metres away from silverback."

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026

This is the second offspring of 31-year-old N’djia and silverback Kelly, 38, whose daughter Angela in 2020 became the first gorilla born at the L.A.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 2, 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

Start with a silverback gorilla, remove the fur, add scales, and stick an extra pair of arms in the wrong places.

From "City of the Plague God" by Sarwat Chadda

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