Meaning & use

faux pas

noun·Advanced

An embarrassing social mistake or breach of accepted behavior.

See it in a sentence

Wearing jeans to the formal wedding was an obvious faux pas.

Forgetting the client's name was a small faux pas he quickly apologized for.

A note on using this word

Faux pas comes from French, and its plural form is spelled the same way, even though it is still pronounced with a silent final 's'.

Words with a similar meaning

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