avuncular

adj

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

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.”

   “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.”

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.”

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