Meaning

In the manner of an uncle, pertaining to an uncle..

Definitions by Sense

1. In the manner of an uncle, pertaining to an uncle.
2. (by extension) Kind, genial, benevolent, or tolerant.

Example Sentences

Both uncle Frank and uncle Stephen Austen had made it a point of principle to be rigorously unsentimental in the discharge of their avuncular obligations.

In 2021, the Times described you as an “avuncular public intellectual.” How do you feel about that label? [Stephen Fry:] Oh my lordy lord. Avuncular gives me great pleasure.

But Jackson had an avuncular feeling for the two younger men and he assumed it was his duty to pull them from their gloom.

A man with such a nice, avuncular personality would not blow up the world.

I imagine the Dreamward’s Hotel Manager to be an avuncular Norwegian with a rag sweater and a soothing odor of Borkum Rif about him, a guy w/o sunglasses or hauteur who throws open the pressurized doors to the Dreamward’s Bridge and galley and Vacuum Sewage System and personally takes me through, offering pithy and quotable answers to questions before I’ve even asked them.

Thornton's reputation was that of a soft-hearted and avuncular veterinarian known for getting teary-eyed while listening to even slightly sentimental stories.

Word Forms

• more avuncular
• most avuncular

Synonyms for avuncular

Related Words

When Should You Use Avuncular?

Use avuncular when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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