Dutch uncle

American  

noun

Sometimes Offensive.

1. a person who criticizes or reproves with unsparing severity and frankness.

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Dutch uncle British  

noun

1. informal a person who criticizes or reproves frankly and severely

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Dutch uncle Idioms  

1. A stern, candid critic or adviser, as in When I got in trouble with the teacher again, the principal talked to me like a Dutch uncle. This expression, often put as talk to one like a Dutch uncle, presumably alludes to the sternness and sobriety attributed to the Dutch. [Early 1800s]

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Sensitive Note

Because Dutch is used here to describe someone manifesting the opposite of warm, affectionate, typically avuncular behavior, this term is sometimes perceived as insulting to or by the Dutch. See also Dutch.

Etymology

Origin of Dutch uncle

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

To straighten things out, Marks sets himself up as a one-man's family � a substitute father and sometimes mother figure who talks to disturbed patients more or less like a loving Dutch uncle.

From Time Magazine Archive

Lin Piao is the Guards' command er, but their Dutch uncle seems to be Premier Chou Enlai.

From Time Magazine Archive

Last week he talked like a Dutch uncle to a Manhattan gathering of 600 medicos and hospital administrators.

From Time Magazine Archive

Chairman Roger Blough, a onetime schoolteacher, lectured Jack Kennedy like a Dutch uncle.

From Time Magazine Archive

We're taking the long way round," he observed "because I'm going to talk to you like a Dutch uncle for saying things like that.

From Jean of the Lazy A by Bower, B. M.