Dutch uncle
Americannoun
noun
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Last week the highly respected Henry Kaufman, a partner in Salomon Bros, who often serves as Wall Street's Dutch uncle, called for the declaration of a "national economic emergency."
From Time Magazine Archive
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Fresh from reputedly lecturing King Carol of Rumania for two hours like a Dutch uncle, M. Barthou wisely did not take that tone with King Alexander.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Air Force playing the role of a straitlaced, old-fashioned Dutch uncle.
From Time Magazine Archive
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They could have kept their heads, and if they were any good they could and would have talked like a Dutch uncle to these pathetic people stumbling to their ruin.
From Time Magazine Archive
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I’ll talk to him like a Dutch uncle, and see if I can’t stir him up to a sense of his responsibilities.
From A Middy in Command A Tale of the Slave Squadron by Hodgson, Edward S.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.