avuncular

adjective /əˈvʌŋkjʊlə/

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

   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.

2. Kind, genial, benevolent, or tolerant.

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

Where it comes from

From Medieval Latin avunculāris, from Classical Latin avunculus (“maternal uncle”) + -āris (“-ar”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry avuncular (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← averruncateaxinomancy →

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