solace
Americannoun
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solaces
plural
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comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or trouble; alleviation of distress or discomfort.
-
something that gives comfort, consolation, or relief.
The minister's visit was the dying man's only solace.
verb (used with object)
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solaces,
present (3rd person singular)
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solaced,
past participle, past
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solacing
present participle
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to comfort, console, or cheer (a person, oneself, the heart, etc.).
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to alleviate or relieve (sorrow, distress, etc.).
noun
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comfort in misery, disappointment, etc
-
something that gives comfort or consolation
verb
-
to give comfort or cheer to (a person) in time of sorrow, distress, etc
-
to alleviate (sorrow, misery, etc)
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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solacesimple
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solacessimple
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have solacedperfect
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has solacedperfect
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am solacingprogressive
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are solacingprogressive
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is solacingprogressive
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have been solacingperfect progressive
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has been solacingperfect progressive
Past
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solacedsimple
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had solacedperfect
-
was solacingprogressive
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were solacingprogressive
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had been solacingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of solace
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English solas, from Old French, from Latin sōlācium, equivalent to sōl (ārī) “to comfort” + -āc- adjective suffix + -ium -ium
Explanation
If something eases your disappointment or grief, consider it a solace. If you're sad, you might find solace in music or in talking to your friends. It is no surprise that consolation and solace are similar in meaning as they share a root in the Latin verb sōlārī, "to comfort." In fact, solace and consolation are synonyms meaning "relief from grief or disappointment." When you go to sleepaway camp, your parents will miss you, but they'll find solace in knowing that you are having fun.
Vocabulary lists containing solace
The Giver
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NAEP Test Words
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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.
See Examples For:
When Diana’s fairy-tale marriage was dissolving, she sought solace from her stepmother.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
But investors can take solace in the fact that AI spending will lead to strong earnings for chips and other tech companies.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
Even when life offers her a grain of solace or happiness, the morsel is already rotting from the inside out.
From Salon ● Oct. 2, 2026
Fernández’s adaptation is anxious to turn tragedy into a sermon, offering theatergoers moral solace where Sophocles leaves his audience in a contemplative state of stunned silence.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
After all, in many respects, they are simply doing what black people did during the Jim Crow era—they are turning to each other for support and solace in a society that despises them.
From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander
But these small solaces, this idea of a table carefully tended, of a little beauty or attention to hearth and home, take on more power in these uncertain times.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025
His only solaces are the U2 album Rattle and Hum and poetry.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 26, 2020
A singer who solaces souls with her soaring soprano, she is just as revelatory as a dramatic actress.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2019
Back home in Birmingham, Wife Anthea, a study in gray, feeds her goldfish and solaces herself with boring novels.
From Time Magazine Archive
She grasped at these images with eagerness, and fostered them as the only solaces of her calamity.
From Ormond, Volume III (of 3) or, The Secret Witness by Charles Brockden Brown
From that point on, solaced by his favorite wife, Queen Um Shagran, he settled into a remarkably sedate routine.
From Time Magazine Archive
And it was in Western Europe, wrecked by war and brooded over by the neo-Malthusians, but solaced by its industry and by U.S. aid, that "the most spectacular advances were made."
From Time Magazine Archive
When he came to the U. S. from Italy, he worked in Manhattan, solaced his leisure tooting in a small brass band.
From Time Magazine Archive
The medieval idea of the Mater Dolorosa solaced her when she lost her own son.
From Time Magazine Archive
I’m sure she solaced herself by being convinced that some misfit Maingault or Mortemar had got mixed up with the lodge-keeper’s daughter.
From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner
In a handsome production by Christopher D. Betts, all of it takes place on a grassy expanse stretching into the distance, with a spiritual, “Fare Ye Well,” as a solacing aural motif.
From New York Times ● Nov. 18, 2021
Intimations, Zadie Smith’s slender, solacing new personal essay collection about life during the COVID-19 crisis, is a May book.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2020
In Rachlin’s skilled hands, Grimes’s story triggers indignation but also confers solace, Grimes being one of the solacing features.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 8, 2017
In those early days of fog and joy and compromise, breastfeeding was an epiphany.There was a solacing sense of dignity to my being able to provide him with such basic nourishment, comfort, warmth, love.
From New York Times ● Jul. 25, 2012
Ifemelu woke up one night to go to the bathroom, and heard Blaine in the living room, talking on the phone, his tone gentle and solacing.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
