gaucherie

[ goh-shuh-ree; French gohshuh-ree ]
See synonyms for gaucherie on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural gau·che·ries [goh-shuh-reez; French gohshuh-ree]. /ˌgoʊ ʃəˈriz; French goʊʃəˈri/.
  1. lack of social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkwardness; crudeness; tactlessness.

  2. an act, movement, etc., that is socially graceless, awkward, or tactless.

Origin of gaucherie

1
From French, dating back to 1790–1800; see origin at gauche, -ery

Words Nearby gaucherie

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use gaucherie in a sentence

  • She could not resist the delicate malice of the exclamation, she imitated the gaucherie so delightfully.

  • I was sorry that I had spoken English before him so heedlessly, and resolved that I would never be guilty of such gaucherie again.

  • The discomfited lady-killer, aspersing the name of Anna with an insolent gaucherie, has his ears boxed for his pains.

    Modernities | Horace Barnett Samuel
  • Her gaucherie was painful to her and evident and very dear to the man perceiving it.

    Under the Law | Edwina Stanton Babcock
  • He left her standing with heightened color blaming herself bitterly for her gaucherie.

    Tam O' The Scoots | Edgar Wallace

British Dictionary definitions for gaucherie

gaucherie

/ (ˌɡəʊʃəˈriː, ˈɡəʊʃərɪ, French ɡoʃri) /


noun
  1. the quality of being gauche

  2. a gauche act

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012