Although it doesn’t mean anything sinister, gauche is one of several words (including sinister) with ties to old suspicions and negative associations relating to the left side and use of the left hand. In French, …

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!

Dec 27, 2025 · Gauche replaced the original Latin-derived word for "left", senestre, in the sixteenth century. Compare Walloon gåtche.

Dec 1, 2017 · If it was gauche, the audience complained or praised at will just as they do today in non-classical concert experiences.

gauche (ɡəʊʃ) adj lacking ease of manner; tactless [C18: French: awkward, left, from Old French gauchir to swerve, ultimately of Germanic origin; related to Old High German wankōn to stagger]

Definition of gauche adjective in Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Meaning, pronunciation, picture, example sentences, grammar, usage notes, synonyms and more.

If you describe someone as gauche, you mean that they are awkward and uncomfortable in the company of other people. We're all a bit gauche when we're young. She was a rather gauche, …