solicitor
Americannoun
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a person who solicits.
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a person whose business it is to solicit business, trade, etc.
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an officer having charge of the legal business of a city, town, etc.
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(in England and Wales) a member of that branch of the legal profession whose services consist of advising clients, representing them before the lower courts, and preparing cases for barristers to try in the higher courts.
noun
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(in Britain) a lawyer who advises clients on matters of law, draws up legal documents, prepares cases for barristers, etc, and who may represent clients in certain courts Compare barrister
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(in the US) an officer responsible for the legal affairs of a town, city, etc
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a person who solicits
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of solicitor
1375–1425; late Middle English solicitour < Anglo-French; Middle French soliciteur. See solicit, -or 2
Explanation
If you get into trouble in England, don't ask for a lawyer. Find a solicitor. England has two levels of attorneys: for big problems, you'll need a barrister, but for your hypothetical legal troubles, a solicitor should do nicely. Some highly placed attorneys in the U.S. are also called solicitors. The lawyer in charge of government cases that come before the Supreme Court is the Solicitor General, and that was Elena Kagan's job before President Barack Obama appointed her to the Supreme Court. Solicitor isn’t always a privileged position. The person who knocks on your door asking you to contribute to some worthy cause is also a solicitor — someone who asks for — or solicits — donations.
Vocabulary lists containing solicitor
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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:
A defence solicitor told the court his client had been asked to take a bag to Northern Ireland and had not been aware what was in it.
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The move was announced in a short statement from Donaldson's solicitor, John McBurney.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Abbott, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, and Cruz, a former state solicitor general, also discussed the recent U.S.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
He sat in the gallery while the justices posed steadily skeptical questions to his solicitor general.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
Next was Mr. Felix Trundle, a well-off solicitor from Heathcote, and as it happened, an amateur singer of light opera.
From "The Interrupted Tale" by Maryrose Wood
The solicitors firm added that the ambulance trust was "not formally disciplining" staff but had "strengthened their HR process for future incidents".
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
Gabriella and Kurtiss are among hundreds of customers who were affected by the sudden closure of PM Law Group, the parent company of the solicitors they used to remortgage.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
"I told my family and my solicitors that I needed some time to process what I had seen, so I switched my phone off and just started driving," Buzzard-Quashie says.
From BBC ● Apr. 30, 2026
The two solicitors helped get a judicial review commissioned after £105,000 was raised by a fundraising group.
From BBC ● Mar. 23, 2026
Then a new batch of solicitors began begging for admittance.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
