gauche

«gauche» in Mova's school dictionary: Awkward and clumsy in how you behave with other people… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (gauche, more gauche); (French) gauche

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) Awkward and clumsy in how you behave with other people, saying or doing slightly wrong things. tree →

2) (French) «gauche» means «left» in French: à gauche = to the left. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories «gauche» describes a shy or socially clumsy person, often a teenager at a party. In French lessons «tournez à gauche» means «turn left». Sound: «gohsh». Phrases: «a bit gauche», «à gauche» (French).

examples

• He felt gauche and shy at his first dance. tree →
• It was a bit gauche to ask how much her dress cost. tree →
• In French, «gauche» means left and «droite» means right. tree →
• Tournez à gauche! — Turn left! tree →
• Her gauche manners made people smile kindly. tree →

note

Borrowed from French. Pronounced «gohsh». Opposite in English: «graceful», «smooth». Do not confuse with «gouge» or «gaudy».

In the corpora

• English borrowed gauche to mean clumsy and adroit (from à droit) to mean skilful.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «gauche» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.