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Meanings of gauche in English

Lacking social polish.

Related terms

Lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance.

Synonyms
Examples for "awkward"
Examples for "awkward"
1
This takes us back to the awkward problem of money and priorities.
The Guardian
2
Which is a relatively friendly and diplomatic solution to an awkward situation.
Medium raw: a bloody valentine to the world of food and the peop...
3
Today was the first time he'd seen her since that awkward introduction.
Agent 6
4
The Director said to smooth awkward situation he would just stand around.
The new yorker
5
The routes are awkward; the companies involved do not coordinate their efforts.
The Guardian
1
In fact, in my own bumbling way, I had similar notions once.
The Gods Themselves
2
She was the petrified and bumbling victim; I was the ruthless pursuer.
Brains: a zombie memoir
3
You two will just have to manage it by bumbling and sneaking.
Surrender to the will of the night
4
The waddling and bumbling Little Tramp character propelled Chaplin to global fame.
Reuters
5
Do you disdain these low-angle inclines as the playground of bumbling neophytes?
Climbing Magazine
1
The results are unwieldy, cackhanded contraptions and often make Heath Robinson's designs look like cycling's answer to Ernesto Colnago.
The Guardian
2
I noticed mother glance at me from time to time as I sighed and fidgeted and tried to hide my cackhanded work.
Caleb's crossing
Usage of gauche in English
1
Such unbridled ambition may seem gauche, but Portadown know what they want.
The Irish Times
2
Initially gauche, she has improved with this latest run of six shows.
The Guardian
3
With his free hand Temper drew his gauche and thrust at her.
Night of Knives
4
There is some prospect that the opposition will be gauche by comparison.
The Guardian
5
Ah well, each to his own: one man's gorgeous is another's gauche.
The Guardian
6
He was known for dressing well, but understated, always fashionable, never gauche.
Empire in black and gold
7
How could he have been so gauche, so clumsy and unlike himself.
Beyond The Rocks: A Love Story
8
A gauche, boxy cardigan with a virtuoso Lesage appliqué of trailing vines.
The Guardian
9
For a man as gauche as Bianchi, the room was incredibly elegant.
The athena project: a thriller
10
She knew Lichfield's type well: the gauche young officer, so eager to please.
The street philosopher
11
I later heard it played in an equally gauche manner by Bob Dylan.
The Irish Times
12
Rachel had never in her life felt so gauche and awkward.
The Best British Short Stories of 1922
13
Maybe rescuing her gauche older sister was his way of winning Lydia's favor.
Ruthless
14
He laughed, only half comprehending, gauche in the expression of his deep-hearted satisfaction.
Lady Bridget in the Never-Never Land: a story of Australian life
15
Then the ordinary incident is merely gauche, and expiation a bore.
Mrs. Falchion, Volume 2.
16
This woman had a trick of always making her appear gauche.
The Nest Builder: A Novel
About this term
More collocations
Gauche through the time
Gauche across language varieties
United Kingdom
Common