0 used to describe a man or male behaviour typical of a kind and loving father:
fatherly advice
1 typical of a kind or caring father
She decided that though she had three good dads (or perhaps, three fatherly friends), none of them were perfect, for they had wrongfully deceived her.
She was released from jail after the fatherly intercession of a police officer.
Where is your fatherly heart?
First of all, the novel goes far towards establishing working-class men as exemplars of a new model of fatherly care.
The small man when he starts wants a fatherly guiding hand.
He is a popular figure, always ready with some fatherly advice and a good yarn to tell.
He is writing fatherly letters of advice up and down the country telling people how to save water, and what they should do.
I have heard with astonishment the declarations from the benches opposite—their sudden fatherly interest in the children.