Definition of gaffe
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
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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 of gaffe from the Web
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His administration has since been battered by a scandal over suspicions of favoritism to a friend's business, verbal gaffes by cabinet ministers and concerns about Abe's intentions to revise the constitution.
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Obama's Republican opponent, Mitt Romney, quickly seized on the gaffe as evidence Obama was concealing a secret agenda for his second term.
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All the components were in place to ensure a smooth, uneventful, gaffe-free trip.
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The prime minister’s grip over the Liberal Democratic Party had already been loosened before the vote by a series of scandals and gaffes that led to a plunge in his approval ratings.
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Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike’s new party, the Tokyoites First party, trounced LDP candidates as Tokyo voters showed dissatisfaction with Abe over recent scandals and gaffes.
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Early errors Florida scored an unearned run in both of the first two innings after gaffes by first baseman Nick Coomes.
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Erase the teeny-tiny gaffes and the Tigers, with their piecemeal pitching, not the Gators, are one win away from winning the national championship with game two set for Tuesday at 7 p.m.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'gaffe.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Origin and Etymology of gaffe
borrowed from French, probably a sense development of gaffe 1gaff
Other Government and Politics Terms
GAFFE Defined for English Language Learners
gaffe
playDefinition of gaffe for English Language Learners
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: a mistake made in a social situation
Learn More about gaffe
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See words that rhyme with gaffe Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for gaffe Spanish Central: Translation of gaffe Nglish: Translation of gaffe for Spanish speakers
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