800-pound gorilla

noun

ˈāt-ˈhən-drəd-ˈpau̇nd- 

-dərd-

: one that is dominating or uncontrollable because of great size or power

Like it or not, the 800-pound gorilla usually sets the standard.

—Daya Nadamuni

Examples of 800-pound gorilla in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

According to the Wall Street Journal, the industry’s 800-pound gorilla, Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), is also getting pasted as the venture capital fund’s flagship crypto fund shed 40% of its value in the first half of the year. — Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 27 Oct. 2022

Boeing was unstoppable, far and away the 800-pound gorilla of commercial aviation. — Dylan Ogline, Forbes, 26 Aug. 2022

With all due respect to King Kong, the real 800-pound gorilla of animal attack movies is Steven Spielberg's still-nerve-rending blockbuster. — Clark Collis, EW.com, 19 Aug. 2022

There’s an 800-pound gorilla that’s going unacknowledged here. — Los Angeles Times, 23 Apr. 2022

David Toback, a physicist at Texas A&M University and a co-spokesperson for the 400-person team, likens it to precisely measuring the weight of an 800-pound gorilla to within one ounce. — Jennifer Leman, Popular Mechanics, 7 Apr. 2022

Much as Napster’s viral growth in 1999 quickly overran the traditional music industry, the sums at stake in this new era of digital money are becoming the 800-pound gorilla in the room for the traditional financial system. — Michael P. Regan, Bloomberg.com, 24 Sep. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1976, in the meaning defined above