gaffe
[gaf]
- a social blunder; faux pas.
Show More
Origin of gaffe
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for gaffe
Contemporary Examples
Christopher Dickey joins CNN International to discuss Biden's Erdogan gaffe and how it will affect Turkey's role in fighting ISIS.
The moment seems to be a familiar breed of Internet gaffe when a eager but inept social media staffer makes a blunder.
“I may not have been the clearest in my statements, obviously,” she said of her “busy” gaffe.
It's not an insult to farmers (though could be construed as one to Grassley); it's just a gaffe.
Clearly, Menzel isn't wasting time complaining about Travolta's gaffe.
Historical Examples
She has been so charming to me that if I make a gaffe she must forgive me.
Sylvia & MichaelCompton Mackenzie
Think what his position would have been if any member of his Embassy had made a "gaffe."
Letters of a Diplomat's WifeMary King Waddington
gaffe
- a social blunder, esp a tactless remark
Show More
Word Origin
C19: from French
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
Word Origin and History for gaffe
n.
"blunder," 1909, perhaps from French gaffe "clumsy remark," originally "boat hook," from Middle French gaffe (15c.), from Old Provençal gaf, probably from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *gafa. Sense connection is obscure; the gaff was used to land big fish. Or it may derive from British slang gaff "to cheat, trick" (1893); or gaff "criticism" (1896), from Scottish dialect sense of "loud, rude talk" (see gaff (n.2)).
Show More
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper