great ape

English

Noun

great ape (plural great apes)

1. (archaic) A large non-human primate, such as a gorilla, an orangutan, or a chimpanzee. [to late 19C]
2. Any member of the taxonomic family Hominidae, including gorilla, orangutan, chimpanzee, excluding Homo.
   • 2005, Richard Dawkins, The Ancestor's Tale, page 114:

     Long before people thought in terms of evolution […] great apes were often confused with humans.

3. Any member of the taxonomic family Hominidae, including Homo, and also many similar extinct species.

Usage notes

All extant members of the Hominidae are known to have a mostly hairless face, hands with complex fingerprints, and flat fingernails. Fossil species have other morphological similarities. The DNA and other chemical markers now used to establish evolutionary relationships confirm the close relationship among great apes.

Synonyms

• hominid

Hypernyms

• animal
• anthropoid
• biped
• mammal
• primate

Hyponyms

• hominin
• See also Thesaurus:great ape

Translations

ape of the taxonomic family Hominidae

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 類人猿／类人猿 (zh) (lèirényuán), 类人猿 (zh) (lèirényuán)

• Finnish: iso ihmisapina
• French: hominidé (fr) m, grand singe (fr) m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Galician: gran simio m
• German: Großaffe m, Grossaffe m (Switzerland, Liechtenstein), Großäffin f, Grossäffin f (Switzerland, Liechtenstein), Menschenaffe (de) m, Menschenäffin f, Hominide (de) m, Hominid m (less common), Hominidin f
• Spanish: gran simio m

See also

• Hydrobatidae
• lesser ape
• monkey

Further reading

• “great ape”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

• gate rape