gorilla in the room
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
An obvious problem or issue that nobody wants to discuss
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Vấn đề hoặc vấn đề rõ ràng nhưng không ai muốn thảo luận
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a large primate in a confined space
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company's financial troubles are the gorilla in the room
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “gorilla in the room” mean?
An obvious problem or issue that nobody wants to discuss Literally: a large primate in a confined space
Is “gorilla in the room” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.