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 ClareyExamples 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
As part of this unconventional arrangement, CBS agrees to forever do things the Augusta way, which means that the booth talent forever navigates a minefield of potential lexical gaffes.
—Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 11 Apr. 2025
Though this group was on for two Florida goals, the first one should’ve been a relatively easy stop for Woll, and the second was the result of a Morgan Rielly gaffe.
—Nick Ashbourne, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
Cabrera also hustled into second on an Oneil Cruz error, the first of several Pirates gaffes in the game.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 4 Apr. 2025
Four minutes is also plenty of time for other social media users to notice a gaffe, and roast the user who made the error.
—Kevin Sabet, Newsweek, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gaffe
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Anthony Crupi, Sportico.com, 11 Apr. 2025
Though this group was on for two Florida goals, the first one should’ve been a relatively easy stop for Woll, and the second was the result of a Morgan Rielly gaffe.
—Nick Ashbourne, New York Times, 9 Apr. 2025
Cabrera also hustled into second on an Oneil Cruz error, the first of several Pirates gaffes in the game.
—Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 4 Apr. 2025
Four minutes is also plenty of time for other social media users to notice a gaffe, and roast the user who made the error.
—Kevin Sabet, Newsweek, 23 Mar. 2025
See All Example Sentences for gaffe
Cite this Entry
“Gaffe.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gaffe. Accessed 22 Apr. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
gaffe
noun
: a noticeable mistake especially of manners
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