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View synonyms for Dutch uncle
Dutch uncle
noun
, Sometimes Offensive.
- a person who criticizes or reproves with unsparing severity and frankness.
Dutch uncle
noun
- informal.a person who criticizes or reproves frankly and severely
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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. Dutch.
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Word History and Origins
Origin of Dutch uncle1
First recorded in 1820–30
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Idioms and Phrases
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]Discover More
Example Sentences
She has had a quarrel with Tom perhaps, and she wants me to go and talk to him like a Dutch Uncle.
From Project Gutenberg
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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.
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