faux pas
verbEtymology Unadapted borrowing from French faux pas (“faux pas, blunder; misstep, false step”).
1
Nonstandard, Rare To commit a faux pas; to blunder.
faux pas
nounUK /ˌfəʊ ˈpɑː/ · US /ˌfoʊ ˈpɑ/
Etymology Unadapted borrowing from French faux pas (“faux pas, blunder; misstep, false step”).
1
An embarrassing or tactless blunder.
- Now my dear Lady Teazle if you but once make a trifling Faux Pas you can't conceive how cautious you would grow, and how ready to humour and agree with your Husband.1777, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, The School for Scandal, IV.iii:
- A saint after repentance will forgive himself for a sin; a man about town will never forgive himself for a faux pas.1906, Chesterton, Charles Dickens, chapter 2:
1 more example
- He was also prone to faux pas, none as memorable as his 2014 secret escapade from the Élysée. He was captured in full-faced helmet on the back of a motor scooter on his way to meet his mistress, the actress Julie Gayet, who is now his wife.2023 June 10, Roula Khalaf, “Lunch with the FT: François Hollande”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 3: