Dictionary

gauche en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ɡoʊʃ/ chemistry sense only
• (UK) audio
• /ɡəʊʃ/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ɡoʊʃ/ (US)
• /ɡaʊʃ/ chemistry sense only

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. Awkward or lacking in social graces; bumbling; apt to make gaffes.
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • 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:
   • "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:
2. (archaic) Skewed, not plane.
3. (not-comparable) Having a torsion angle of 60°.

Forms

Antonyms

adroit (antonym(s) of “lacking in social graces”)

Deriveds

gauchely · gaucheness

Relateds

très gauche · main-gauche · gauche caviar · main gauche · gauche effect

Synonyms

unpolished (lacking in social graces) · unsophisticated (lacking in social graces) · graceless (lacking in social graces) · tactless (lacking in social graces) · gawky (lacking in social graces)

Translations (24)

eo plumpa (awkward, bumbling) · de unbeholfen (awkward, bumbling) · pl niezręczny (awkward, bumbling) · cs neobratný (awkward, bumbling) · fi moukkamainen (awkward, bumbling) · et taktitu (awkward, bumbling) · fi tahditon (awkward, bumbling) · ka ხეპრე (awkward, bumbling) · pt desajeitado (awkward, bumbling) · zh 粗魯的 /粗鲁的 (awkward, bumbling) · de linkisch (awkward, bumbling) · mi tāhapa (awkward, bumbling) · sv taktlös (awkward, bumbling) · es torpe (awkward, bumbling) · fi kömpelö (awkward, bumbling) · sv fumlig (awkward, bumbling) · ru неуклю́жий (awkward, bumbling) · cs neohrabaný (awkward, bumbling) · fr gauche (awkward, bumbling) · ru неуме́лый (awkward, bumbling) · io ne-habila (awkward, bumbling) · de plump (awkward, bumbling) · bg нетактичен (awkward, bumbling) · bg груб (awkward, bumbling)