gauche

American  

[gohsh] / goʊʃ /

adjective

1. lacking social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkward; crude; tactless.

   Their exquisite manners always make me feel gauche.

   Synonyms:

   uncouth, gross, coarse, maladroit, clumsy, inept

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gauche British  

/ ɡəʊʃ /

adjective

1. lacking ease of manner; tactless

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Other Word Forms

• gauchely adverb
• gaucheness noun

Etymology

Origin of gauche

1745–55; < French: awkward, left; Middle French, derivative of gauchir to turn, veer < Germanic

Example Sentences

And when a State of the Union is remembered, it tends to be less for something the president said than for a gauche reaction.

From The Wall Street Journal

But even five years of perpetual pregnancy hasn’t stopped the comedian known for being glamorously gauche, from saying the crude things we all think while wearing a chic outfit and a smile.

From Los Angeles Times

“And this: ‘Lady Ashton’s pirate getup was so gauche as to be illegal; quick, somebody, throw her in the brig!’

From Literature

“Sirens” updates that collage portrait, casting the modern billionaire not as gauche but reserved, a misunderstood figure we should trust.

From Salon

In England, though, many fans perceived it as the further desecration of a cornerstone of national culture: a soccer club’s being treated as an investment to be exploited by a gauche American owner.

From New York Times