gauche

[gohsh] /goʊʃ/

adjective

lacking social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkward; crude; tactless:

Their exquisite manners always make me feel gauche.

Origin

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

Related forms

gauchely, adverb

gaucheness, noun

Can be confused

gauche, gouache.

Synonyms

inept, clumsy, maladroit; coarse, gross, uncouth.

Examples from the web for gauche

Some will find it gauche; others will enjoy its boldness.
He laughs and talks while serving, and is as gauche as possible.
And when you receive a business card, it's gauche to write on the back of it.
Be gauche and put it in the cover letter.
Accordingly, from the French, one is considered “gauche” or “maladroit” when exhibiting clumsiness.
We chickened out at the front counter, terrified of appearing gauche.
There is something endearingly gauche about the new millionaires.
Certainly an awkward, socially gauche one.
In part this is just the desire of a slightly gauche place to appear hip.
Don't raise your voice; brash Westerners are apt to be perceived as intimidating and gauche.

British Dictionary definitions for gauche

gauche

/ɡəʊʃ/

adjective

lacking ease of manner; tactless

Derived Forms

gauchely, adverb
gaucheness, noun

Word Origin

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

Word Origin and History for gauche

adj.

"awkward, tactless," 1751 (Chesterfield), from French gauche "left" (15c., replacing Old French senestre in that sense), originally "awkward, awry," from Middle French gauchir "turn aside, swerve," from Old French gaucher "trample, reel, walk clumsily," from Frankish *welkan "to full" (cloth), from Proto-Germanic *wankjan (cf. Old High German wankon, Old Norse vakka "to stagger, totter;" see wink (v.)).