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
Christopher ClareySynonyms
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
The rival parties competed for swing voters by playing up their enemies’ gaffes and past remarks.
—Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024
Watching prominent figures reflect on their most embarrassing gaffes and humbling mistakes will inspire you to overcome your own minor (or major) failures.
—Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gaffe 
Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2024
Watching prominent figures reflect on their most embarrassing gaffes and humbling mistakes will inspire you to overcome your own minor (or major) failures.
—Tyler Shepherd, USA TODAY, 29 Mar. 2024
See all Example Sentences for gaffe
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'gaffe.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near gaffe
Cite this Entry
“Gaffe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaffe. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
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gaffe
noun
: a noticeable mistake especially of manners
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