gaffe
Americannoun
noun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Etymology
Origin of gaffe
1905–10; < French: blunder, probably special use of gaffe gaff 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Journalist Michael Kinsley famously defined a “gaffe” as what happens “when a politician tells the truth—some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.”
“There is not a thing that comes to mind,” was her tinny response, and that gaffe is entirely on the former vice president.
From Los Angeles Times
Diplomats, whose cause Andrew was meant to be advancing, nicknamed him "His Buffoon Highness" because of all the gaffes.
From BBC
In fact, they're all so discombobulated by this thing that some of them are making monumental political gaffes trying to deal with it.
From Salon
These "gaffes" were considered deal breakers and no matter how hard they tried to show off their skills at mingling with ordinary voters, they were given no quarter.
From Salon
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
