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

However, her most obvious gaffe – fouling Tiffany Hayes down by just three points with 22 seconds remaining and a seven-second difference between game and shot clock – was not her fault. —Joseph Dycus, Mercury News, 28 June 2025

Maybe Westbrook’s double-overtime gaffe against Minnesota wouldn’t have happened if the Wolves’ shot selection had been better at the end of regulation, or the end of the first overtime. —Bennett Durando, Denver Post, 12 June 2025

That gaffe remains a major celebrity lowlight on the mound a decade later. —Andrew Ravens‎, MSNBC Newsweek, 12 June 2025

Yang also has a number of gaffes in the blooper reel. —Wesley Stenzel, EW.com, 21 May 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