Gauche Meaning
/ɡəʊʃ/Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjAwkward or lacking in social graces; bumbling; apt to make gaffes.
adjSkewed, not plane.
Sentence Examples
Tom is so naive that his gauche manners can hardly offend anyone.
I am so gauche with these wretched baubles.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
None
Antonyms:
CEFR Practice Quiz
He spilled his drink and told an awkward joke, showing his ____ social skills.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ behavior at the elegant dinner party made several of the other guests feel quite uncomfortable.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French gauche (“left, awkward”), from gauchir (“to veer, turn”), from Old French gaucher (“to trample, walk clumsily”), from Frankish *walkan (“to full, trample”), from Proto-Germanic *walkaną (“to full, roll up”). Akin to Old High German walchan (“to knead”), Old English wealcian (“to roll up, curl”) and English walk, Old Norse valka (“to drag about”). More at walk.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Seeking by vulgar pomp and gauche display
In 'good society', to make her way"
— 1836, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, The Outcast and Other Poems, The Spirit Court of Practice and Pretence, page 102:
"She looked a trifle gauche, it struck me; more like a country girl with the hoyden taming in her than the well-bred creature she is."
— 1879, George Meredith, “chapter XLVI”, in The Egoist:
""He's a trifle gauche" said Lady Hammergallow, jumping upon the Vicar's attention. "He neither bows nor smiles. He must cultivate oddities like that. Every successful executant is more or less gauche.""
— 1895, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “Chapter 18”, in The Wonderful Visit (Macmillan’s Colonial Library), London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC:
"What was once a multi-million-dollar fantasy of womanhood – exclusively svelte, athletic models in lace-trimmed thongs or diamante push-up bras, each framed by a pair of 12-foot-high angel wings – quickly became a parody so gauche it’s hard to imagine it was ever taken seriously."
— 2022 July 25, Leah Dolan, “New documentary unearths troubling links between Victoria’s Secret and Jeffrey Epstein”, in CNN, archived from the original on 30 Aug 2022:
Explore More C2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He spilled his drink and told an awkward joke, showing his ____ social skills.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
His ____ behavior at the elegant dinner party made several of the other guests feel quite uncomfortable.