agony uncle

British

noun

Gender-netural form: advice columnist. (sometimes capital) a man who writes the replies to readers' letters in an agony column

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Only a Brit can make such florid self-deprecation charming, and the 75-year-old Nighy’s fluency in this — along with his plummy, mellifluous drawl — makes him a perfect agony uncle: not the go-to guy for people whose lives are actually falling apart, but the one whose lived experience steers his guidance and offers perspective rather than prescription.

From Salon

The TV presenter and Daily Telegraph agony uncle said he was "so annoyed" with himself for having "misjudged" his response in Saturday's paper.

From BBC

Since then, words have been spilling out of him: on top of his warm, wise turn as an agony uncle, he went on a tour called Conversations based around unscripted discussions with his audience.

From The Guardian

Horrified by the idea that women should concern themselves with such base matters, the hapless agony uncle skedaddled.

From The Guardian

Famed Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami is about to become the internet's agony uncle.

From The Verge

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023