gaffe

noun

ˈgaf 

1

: a social or diplomatic blunder

committed an embarrassing gaffe when he mispronounced her name

2

: a noticeable mistake

Kwan did not fall today, as she had in Friday's short program, a gaffe that left her in fourth place.

—Christopher Clarey

Synonyms

• familiarity
• faux pas
• gaff
• impropriety
• indiscretion
• solecism

Examples of gaffe in a Sentence

He realized that he had committed an awful gaffe when he mispronounced her name.

committed a huge gaffe when she started drinking from the finger bowl

Recent Examples on the Web

With the race widely believed to be on a knife-edge, some pundits suggested the gaffe could be fatal to the Trump campaign, in part because there is a significant Puerto Rican community in the key state of Pennsylvania. —Shane Croucher, Newsweek, 6 Nov. 2024

The district still leans red, and Hurd, an attorney, is a more temperate conservative than his predecessor, with fewer gaffes. —Jesse Bedayn, Los Angeles Times, 6 Nov. 2024

Still, days away from the Nov. 5 election, Democrats are pouncing on the gaffe. —Rebecca Picciotto, CNBC, 2 Nov. 2024

Thursday's cartoons - cosplayer-in-chief, one more gaffe for the road, and more Newsletter sign up By The Week US published 6 days ago Subscribe to The Week Escape your echo chamber. —The Week Us, theweek, 31 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from French, probably a sense development of gaffe gaff entry 1

First Known Use

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

gaffe

noun

ˈgaf 

: a noticeable mistake especially of manners