Idiom
gorilla in the room
Meaning
A problem or difficult issue that is very obvious, but is ignored for the convenience or comfort of those involved.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Everyone ignores the gorilla in the room during our meetings.”
“The team discussed minor budget cuts while ignoring the gorilla in the room: the company was failing.”
“Despite the obvious decline in sales, the board members refused to address the gorilla in the room, preferring to focus on trivial marketing updates instead.”
Examples
simple
“Everyone ignores the gorilla in the room during our meetings.”
contextual
“The team discussed minor budget cuts while ignoring the gorilla in the room: the company was failing.”
complex
“Despite the obvious decline in sales, the board members refused to address the gorilla in the room, preferring to focus on trivial marketing updates instead.”
Origin
Blend of 800-pound gorilla + elephant in the room.
Key words
Related idioms
- Updated