Link Centre Dictionary

gauche

UK/ɡəʊʃ/ US/ɡoʊʃ/ rare archaic

adjective

1.

lacking social polish

  • “too gauche to leave the room when the conversation became intimate”
  • “their excellent manners always made me feel gauche”
Synonyms
Similar

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • gauche caviar
  • gauche effect
  • main gauche
  • très gauche

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.