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V2 Vocabulary Building Dictionary


gauche

adjective

Definition: lacking manners and proper social behavior

Synonyms: unsophisticated, uncouth, tactless, awkward, graceless, ill-mannered, uncultured, boorish

Antonyms: sophisticated, polite, cultured, civilized

Tips: Gauche comes from French and literally means "left" or "left-handed." This is contrast with the words adroit and dexterity, which come from the Latin root word for "right," as in right handed. These words are derived from an ancient belief that right handed people were more intelligent and left handed people were clumsy and unintlligent. Of course we don't believe this to be true anymore, but the definition of gauche has remained "unsophisticated, ill-mannered, and boorish."

Usage Examples:

His gauche manners at the party can be explained by the fact that he had several cocktails before he arrived. (uncouth, ill-mannered)

Rules of etiquette are important at that country club, and gauche behavior is not tolerated. (unsophisticated, uncultured, boorish)

It was amazing to see her grow from a gauche teenager to a self-assured, sophisticated young woman. (awkward, graceless)

He was clearly too gauche to see that we wanted to have a private conversation. (uncouth, boorish, ill-mannered)


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