gaucherie

[ goh-shuh-ree; French gohshuh-ree ]

noun

, plural gau·che·ries [goh-sh, uh, -, reez, gohsh, uh, -, ree].

1. lack of social grace, sensitivity, or acuteness; awkwardness; crudeness; tactlessness.
2. an act, movement, etc., that is socially graceless, awkward, or tactless.

gaucherie

/ ˈɡəʊʃərɪ; ˌɡəʊʃəˈriː; ɡoʃri /

noun

1. the quality of being gauche
2. a gauche act

Word History and Origins

Origin of gaucherie¹

From French, dating back to 1790–1800; gauche, -ery

Example Sentences

He has found another summit in the very state of his downfall, where he resigned his Indiana job in 2008 and stayed out of the college game for six years after getting caught deep in the cookie jar of recruiting gaucherie.

From Washington Post

Venture capitalism is behind most of the platforms on which people lament the gaucherie of “late-stage capitalism”; it has become the chief industrial backer of the self-aware, predominantly upper-middle-class approach to life style now called woke.

From The New Yorker

My shyness and gaucherie became worse, too, making me stolid and dumb when people came to the house.

From Literature

I am very different from that self who drove to Manderley for the first time, hopeful and eager, handicapped by a rather desperate gaucherie and filled with an intense desire to please.

From Literature

I went to our table, looking straight before me, and immediately paid the penalty of gaucherie by knocking over the vase of stiff anemones as I unfolded my napkin.

From Literature

Related Words

• error
• gaffe
• lapse
• miscue
• misjudgment
• recklessness