gauche

/goʊʃ/

/gəʊʃ/

Other forms: gaucher

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!

Definitions of gauche

1. adjective

   lacking social polish, poise, or refinement
   “too gauche to leave the room when the conversation became intimate”

   “their excellent manners always made me feel gauche”

   synonyms: graceless, unaccomplished, unpolished

   inelegant

   lacking in refinement or grace or good taste