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

Example Sentences

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

That choice nearly backfired when Williams was called for an offensive foul on the inbounds pass, but the Raptors were out of timeouts due to their challenge gaffe, forcing them to inbound the ball about 80 feet from their hoop. —Adam Himmelsbach, BostonGlobe.com, 21 Jan. 2023

The Vikings also got a heroic performance by Jefferson — who had 10 catches for 193 yards and an incredible, game-saving one-handed grab — and overcame an officiating gaffe. —John Wawrow, ajc, 14 Nov. 2022

Luckily the gaffe didn’t come back to haunt the team. —Dallas News, 10 Oct. 2022

Locals familiar with the scenery immediately called out the visual gaffe, which highlighted a preference on the part of Daines, Rosendale, and their fellow Republicans for appearance over substance on public-lands issues. —Elliott D. Woods, Outside Online, 28 Oct. 2020

The Vikings also got a heroic performance by Jefferson — who had 10 catches for 193 yards and an incredible, game-saving one-handed grab — and overcame an officiating gaffe. —John Wawrow, ajc, 14 Nov. 2022

The Vikings also got a heroic performance by Jefferson -- who had 10 catches for 193 yards and an incredible, game-saving one-handed grab -- and overcame an officiating gaffe. —Arkansas Online, 14 Nov. 2022

The Vikings also got a heroic performance by Jefferson — who had 10 catches for 193 yards and an incredible, game-saving one-handed grab — and overcame an officiating gaffe. —John Wawrow, BostonGlobe.com, 13 Nov. 2022

But Republicans pounced on what some saw as a gaffe and others saw as a fiction. —Allison Morrow, CNN, 11 Aug. 2022

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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