gauche
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
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!
Vocabulary lists containing gauche
100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know
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Negative Words to Describe a Person
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National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 2
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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.
Keir Starmer's team agonised over whether to bring crowds of supporters into Downing Street to wave and cheer his arrival, worried "it would look too gauche to have a celebration".
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
How could anyone treasure something so gauche in this bougie travel era of lie-flat seats and $1,000 a night hotels, right?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 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
In the United Kingdom, everyone drives on the left, and there is nothing inherently wrong with that convention; it is in no way sinister, gauche, or socialist.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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.
