Pick the rare, flashy, scholarly-sounding word "farouche" when you want to sound sophisticated as you describe anything (or anyone) socially clueless. Just not to my face, please.

You might talk about farouche people, especially children, and their farouche manners and comments.

That's assuming you want to use this word to mean "awkward, sullen, shy, unskilled in engaging with society." That's the older, more established meaning for this term in English. Plenty of writers use the newer meaning: "fierce, ferocious." This newer meaning isn't yet recognized by English dictionaries. But feel free to use it anyway, and talk about farouche animals, farouche eyebrows, farouche runway models with farouche glares, or something more abstract, like farouche desire, inflation, or journalism.

"Jacky Villemin's handsomeness was equal to any movie star's. He had that farouche look where you didn't know if it was shyness or anxiety or just plain cockiness. Definitely the kind of handsome in style in the 90s."  
   — tunuvfun, Reddit.com, 7 December 2022

"Mr. Jacobson lives in a Ray Kappe-designed home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., with his wife, Kristopher Dukes, who is an interior designer, and their farouche leather-clad pit bull, Luscious."
   — Nick Bilton, New York Times, 9 September 2015

has this page helped you understand "farouche"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "farouche" without saying "bumbling" or "ferocious."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Someone) does (something awkward or ferocious or both), which is rather farouche."

Example 1: "She took home most of the leftovers from the party without asking, which was rather farouche."

Example 2: "His descriptions of snakes are lovely: 'Her perfect forked tongue flickers blackly out of its specially armoured hole . . . and waves itself like lightning in our direction.' And he writes it all in a tone that says 'this is just normal life in an English home,' which is both charming and rather farouche."
   — Diane Ackerman, New York Times, 13 May 1990

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Name that Sketchplanation!"

Check out the sketch below, created by Jono Hey at Sketchplanations.com.

Focus on the title, and see if you can come up with the word or phrase that belongs in the blurry spot. It'll be one we've studied before.

Hint: it's not Daedalian, but that's pretty close!

See the answer on the original Sketchplanation!

And if you like, review the word here.

review this word:

1. The opposite of FAROUCHE could be

A. AFFABLE (friendly, sociable, and approachable).
B. ESTIMABLE (so good that it deserves everyone's respect).
C. MALLEABLE (easily shaped or easily influenced, as if bending easily under a hammer).

2. For a song called "_____," I expected it to be more farouche.

A. Roar
B. Adore
C. Sacrifice

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. A

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.