gaffe
pronunciation
How to pronounce gaffe in British English:
UK [gæf]
How to pronounce gaffe in American English:
US [ɡæf]
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- Noun:
- a socially awkward or tactless act
Word Origin
- gaffe (n.)
- "blunder," 1909, perhaps from French gaffe "clumsy remark," originally "boat hook," from Middle French gaffe (15c.), from Old Provençal gafar "to seize," probably from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *gaf-, which is perhaps from PIE *kap- "to grasp, catch" (see capable). Sense connection between the hook and the blunder is obscure; the gaff was used to land big fish. Or the Modern English word might derive from British slang verb gaff "to cheat, trick" (1893); or gaff "criticism" (1896), from Scottish dialect sense of "loud, rude talk" (see gaff (n.2)).
Example
- 1. This was an extraordinary gaffe .
- 2. A difference accentuated by mr romney 's 47 % gaffe , which struck at the core of the male-female divide .
- 3. In the disaster that later unfolded , mr. hayward became a lightning rod for criticism after his poor performance before a congressional panel and an infamous gaffe in which he complained ' I want my life back ' against a backdrop of economic suffering and hardship in the gulf region .