contretemps
noun·/ˈkɑːn.trə.tɑ̃/
An awkward mishap in the flow of social life; an inopportune incident that derails proceedings not by catastrophe but by ill timing (often wry). A contretemps is small enough to survive, large enough to be remembered.
The toast began tenderly, then a phone rang in the sudden hush—a perfect contretemps, and everyone laughed a little too hard.
Etymology
Borrowed from French contretemps, literally “counter-time” (contre “against” + temps “time”). What goes wrong, the word suggests, is not merely what happens but when—events arriving out of turn, like a footfall on the wrong beat.
Related Words
faux pasa misstep of manners; often a kind of contretemps
misadventurebroader, with more narrative weight
anticlimaxa structural sag that a contretemps can produce
inopportunethe timing that defines it