"Dutch uncle" meaning in English

See Dutch uncle in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: Dutch uncles [plural]
Etymology: From 1838. Head templates: {{en-noun}} Dutch uncle (plural Dutch uncles)
  1. One who reproves or advises in a blunt, stern but often kindly manner, intended for the benefit of the recipient.
    Sense id: en-Dutch_uncle-en-noun-VSIfIAxU Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Male people

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From 1838.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Dutch uncles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Dutch uncle (plural Dutch uncles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Male people",
          "orig": "en:Male people",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              158,
              169
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1996, Richard Kluger, Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris, Random House (Alfred A. Knopf), page 287:",
          "text": "Gruff but kindly, with dark-rimmed glasses prone to slip down his prominent ruddy nose and an unlit cigar habitually clenched in his teeth, he was everyone's Dutch uncle and let even strangers call him “Maggie” to his face.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              16,
              27
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003, Harlan Wygant, The Samurai Conspiracy, iUniverse, page 59:",
          "text": "I talked like a Dutch uncle to convince them they would be in the way if they came out too.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              75,
              86
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007, Peter Michael Briscoe, The Best Read Man in France: A Cautionary Tale, Wildside Press (The Borgo Press), page 41:",
          "text": "The accountant was an older guy named Barney who always played the role of Dutch uncle to Michael's high flying ways, but on this occasion he read him the riot act.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who reproves or advises in a blunt, stern but often kindly manner, intended for the benefit of the recipient."
      ],
      "id": "en-Dutch_uncle-en-noun-VSIfIAxU",
      "links": [
        [
          "reprove",
          "reprove"
        ],
        [
          "advise",
          "advise"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Dutch uncle"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From 1838.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "Dutch uncles",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "Dutch uncle (plural Dutch uncles)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "en:Male people"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              158,
              169
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1996, Richard Kluger, Ashes to Ashes: America's Hundred-Year Cigarette War, the Public Health, and the Unabashed Triumph of Philip Morris, Random House (Alfred A. Knopf), page 287:",
          "text": "Gruff but kindly, with dark-rimmed glasses prone to slip down his prominent ruddy nose and an unlit cigar habitually clenched in his teeth, he was everyone's Dutch uncle and let even strangers call him “Maggie” to his face.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              16,
              27
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2003, Harlan Wygant, The Samurai Conspiracy, iUniverse, page 59:",
          "text": "I talked like a Dutch uncle to convince them they would be in the way if they came out too.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              75,
              86
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2007, Peter Michael Briscoe, The Best Read Man in France: A Cautionary Tale, Wildside Press (The Borgo Press), page 41:",
          "text": "The accountant was an older guy named Barney who always played the role of Dutch uncle to Michael's high flying ways, but on this occasion he read him the riot act.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "One who reproves or advises in a blunt, stern but often kindly manner, intended for the benefit of the recipient."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "reprove",
          "reprove"
        ],
        [
          "advise",
          "advise"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "Dutch uncle"
}

Download raw JSONL data for Dutch uncle meaning in English (1.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-19 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (d1270d2 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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