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

• blunder
• mistake
• offence
• indiscretion
• error
• gaff

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

During his lone 2024 debate with Trump, then-President Biden struggled to finish complete thoughts, fumbled over words and made several embarrassing gaffes. —Joey Garrison, USA Today, 22 July 2025

Due to this lip-syncing gaffe, the world realized these imposters were only pretending to be musicians. —Michael Ashley, Forbes.com, 14 July 2025

If not for a defensive gaffe during the second inning, McCullers might’ve completed five frames for the first time since Oct. 3, 2022. —Chandler Rome, New York Times, 17 May 2025

After Chisholm’s gaffe, Boone was seen going into the tunnel with the infielder. —Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News, 4 Aug. 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