uncling

/ˈʌŋk(ə)lɪŋ/

uncling is the present participle and gerund of uncle.

Meaning of uncle

uncle (third-person singular simple present uncles, present participle uncling, simple past and past participle uncled)

(colloquial, transitive) To address somebody by the term uncle.
(colloquial, intransitive) To act like, or as, an uncle.
- Betelgeuse Five, where he both fathered and uncled Ford1979, Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

IPA/ʌnˈklɪŋ/

uncling (third-person singular simple present unclings, present participle unclinging, simple past and past participle unclung)

(obsolete) To cease from clinging or adhering.
- unleſſe it be the lowest lees of a canonicall infection livergrown to their fides; which perhaps will never uncling1645 March 14 (Gregorian calendar), John Milton, Tetrachordon: Expositions upon the Foure Chief Places in Scripture, which Treat of Mariage, or Nullities in Mariage. […], London: [s.n.], →OCLC

third-person singular present	unclings
present participle	unclinging
past participle	unclung
past	unclung

From un- + cling.

What does uncling mean?: Uncling means to cease from clinging or adhering.
What is uncling the present participle and gerund of?: Uncling is the present participle and gerund of uncle.
What part of speech is uncling?: Uncling is a verb.
How do you pronounce uncling?: Uncling is pronounced /ˈʌŋk(ə)lɪŋ/.
What is the past tense of uncling?: The past tense of uncling is unclung.

Adapted from Wiktionary: uncling (page history and authors); uncle (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-uncling.wav.

Cite this entry: “uncling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/uncling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.