gauche

[gohsh]

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

gauche

/ ɡəʊʃ /

adjective

1. lacking ease of manner; tactless

Other Word Forms

• gauchely adverb
• gaucheness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of gauche¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of gauche¹

C18: French: awkward, left, from Old French gauchir to swerve, ultimately of Germanic origin; related to Old High German wankōn to stagger

Example Sentences

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

Read more on Literature

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

Read more on Salon

The left should take the Stars and Stripes back from the right, which wields it like a cudgel or wears it as gauche fashion statement a la Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

For his part, the five-time presidential candidate - who started his political life fighting Communists and conservatives alike - described himself as "ni droite, ni gauche, français" - not right, not left, but French.

Read more on BBC

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.

Read more on New York Times