informal

1 a : lacking in social graces or ease, tact, and familiarity with polite usage : likely or inclined to commit social blunders especially from lack of experience or training

b : lacking finish or exhibiting crudity (as of style, form, or technique)

<an excellent script and cast wasted by gauche direction>
<a gauche turn of phrase>

2: not plane : twisted, skew

<a gauche curve>

3: being or designed for use with the left hand : left-hand

<a gauche or left-hand weapon, used mainly for guarding and reserve — Foster Harris>

Origin of GAUCHE

French, literally, left, on the left, from Middle French, from gauchir to turn aside, swerve, alteration of guenchir, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German wankōn to stagger, sway — more at wink

First Known Use: 1751 (sense 1a)

Synonyms:

clumsy, awkward, graceless, inelegant, rough-hewn, rustic (also rustical), stiff, stilted, uncomfortable, uneasy, ungraceful, wooden

Antonyms:

graceful, suave, urbane

Related Words:

angular, gawky, lubberly, ungainly; boorish, clownish, uncouth; abashed, discomfited, discomforted, discomposed, disconcerted, discountenanced, embarrassed; self-conscious; agitated, bothered, chagrined, dismayed, disquieted, distressed, disturbed, fazed, flustered, jittery, jumpy, mortified, nervous, nonplussed (also nonplused), perturbed, rattled, unhinged, unsettled, upset; diffident, insecure, meek, modest, self-doubting, timid, unassertive, unassuming, unpretentious

Near Antonyms:

assured, calm, collected, composed, confident, cool, placid, poised, secure, self-assured, self-confident, self-possessed, serene, tranquil, undisturbed, unperturbed

Notes: Today's Word is used so rarely it hasn't even lost its French spelling. In French, AU is pronounced [o], CH sounds like English [sh], and all final Es are silent. Perhaps it explains the rather, well, gauche adverb, gauchely, and two nouns, gaucheness and gaucherie, of which the latter is clearly the lovelier.

Word History: Borrowed from French gauche "left", which replaced Old French sinistre in the 15th century. The French word gauche may have come from Old High German welc "soft, languid, weak" whence German welk "withered, faded, languid", but no one seems to know for sure. The ambiguity of English right is no coincidence; the right-handed majority has historically associated its preferred hand with correctness and righteousness, while presuming something wrong with the left. The Latin word for right, dexter, is the source of dexterous. Adroit comes from the French phrase à droit "to the right". On the other hand (so to speak), not only does today's word reflect the left-handed prejudice, but the same is true of sinister, which comes from the earlier Old French word meaning "left" mentioned above. Indeed, even today some of us call a dubious remark a "left-handed" compliment".

Of course it is very gauche to drool on your lobster at the dinner table, but other examples of gaucherie may occur at table.

http://www.alphadictionary.com/

Numerous members of the Republican political party,to say they are gauche, would be the greatest understatement of the past 200 year's, as they consider women less then second class citizens.