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

Two innings later, Friedl — who singled and was caught stealing in the first, homered in the second and singled in the fourth before his gaffe — laid down a perfect bunt for a base hit with a runner on, then scored on Elly De La Cruz’s single, giving the Reds a four-run cushion. —C. Trent Rosecrans, New York Times, 6 Apr. 2025

The Kamala Harris gaffe that floored even her own advisor. —FOXNews.com, 4 Apr. 2025

The ballot gaffe has created political fodder for candidates who are running for Skokie clerk, including Desai, who is running after she was appointed clerk in 2024. —Richard Requena, Chicago Tribune, 31 Mar. 2025

Journalists and news organizations told the tech giant about a number of gaffes. —Dade Hayes, Deadline, 11 Feb. 2025

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

Rhymes for gaffe

• calf
• chaff
• gaff
• graff
• graph
• haff
• half
• laugh
• raff
• staff
• staph
• autograph

Kids Definition

gaffe

noun

ˈgaf 

: a noticeable mistake especially of manners