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

Explanation

Use the word gauche when you want to call something tacky, graceless, tactless, rude, boorish, or awkward and foolish. Have you just pointed out someone's misuse of this word? Oh dear, how gauche! Gauche was used for a long time to refer to things that were just so wrong, it almost hurt to talk about them, like publicly asking someone why they don’t like you. That is so gauche, it could induce a cringe! Gauche is almost a gauche word, as it is comes from a French word meaning left (as opposed to right). It would be gauche to call left-handed people tacky!

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 • Feb. 23, 2026

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 • Jan. 28, 2026

Or is it considered inappropriate and gauche to even talk about money?

From Salon • Feb. 6, 2024

Or would it be gauche to do so?

From Washington Post • Apr. 11, 2023

The air of collective displacement, the impermanence of life in wartime and the gauche personalities of the more recent arrivals tended to dissipate my own sense of not belonging.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou