Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or distress; consolation.
  • noun A source of comfort or consolation.
  • transitive verb To comfort, cheer, or console, as in trouble or sorrow. synonym: comfort.
  • transitive verb To allay or assuage.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Comfort in sorrow, sadness, or misfortune; alleviation of distress or of discomfort.
  • noun That which gives relief, comfort, or alleviation under any affliction or burden.
  • noun Sport; pleasure; delight; amusement; recreation; happiness.
  • noun In printing, the penalty prescribed by the early printers for a violation of office rules.
  • To cheer in grief, trouble, or despondency; console under affliction or calamity; comfort.
  • To allay; assuage; soothe: as, to solace grief by sympathy.
  • To amuse; delight; give pleasure to: sometimes used reflexively.
  • Synonyms and . See solace, n.
  • To take comfort; be consoled or relieved in grief.
  • To take pleasure or delight; be amused; enjoy one's self.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To take comfort; to be cheered.
  • transitive verb To cheer in grief or under calamity; to comfort; to relieve in affliction, solitude, or discomfort; to console; -- applied to persons.
  • transitive verb To allay; to assuage; to soothe.
  • noun Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief.
  • noun obsolete Rest; relaxation; ease.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Comfort or consolation in a time of distress.
  • noun A source of comfort or consolation.
  • verb To give solace to; comfort; cheer; console.
  • verb To allay or assuage.
  • verb intransitive To take comfort; to be cheered.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun comfort in disappointment or misery
  • noun the comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment
  • verb give moral or emotional strength to
  • noun the act of consoling; giving relief in affliction

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English solas, from Old French, from Latin sōlācium, from sōlārī, to console.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French solas, from Latin sōlācium ("consolation")

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Examples

  • That's pretty gross, I know, but at least here in the Rocky Mountain State we can take solace from the fact that we're not Mississippi, the nation's fattest state, where better than one out of every three people is considered obese.

    Todd Hartley: Colorado: The Short End of the Fat Stick Todd Hartley 2010

  • That's pretty gross, I know, but at least here in the Rocky Mountain State we can take solace from the fact that we're not Mississippi, the nation's fattest state, where better than one out of every three people is considered obese.

    Todd Hartley: Colorado: The Short End of the Fat Stick Todd Hartley 2010

  • I take some solace from the fact that this morning's snowfall will eventually become part of next summer's trout stream.

    Deep Snow and Happy Trout 2009

  • That's pretty gross, I know, but at least here in the Rocky Mountain State we can take solace from the fact that we're not Mississippi, the nation's fattest state, where better than one out of every three people is considered obese.

    Todd Hartley: Colorado: The Short End of the Fat Stick Todd Hartley 2010

  • As his eyes welled with tears, he added, "I found a certain solace and soothing in the telling."

    With No Ax to Grind Jim Fusilli 2010

  • If so, perhaps ITV can take solace from the fact that breakfast television has never taken off over here as it did in the US.

    Daybreak still watched by fewer viewers than its predecessor GMTV James Robinson 2010

  • Much like President Bill Clinton took solace from the Democratic defeat in the 1994 midterms, so does Obama embark this week on a lengthy trip to Asia, where he will be able to put aside temporarily the political setback at home for a turn on the global stage, where he remains widely admired.

    Around the world, concern over the global impact of U.S. elections Keith B. Richburg 2010

  • Much like President Bill Clinton took solace from the Democratic defeat in the 1994 midterms, so does Obama embark this week on a lengthy trip to Asia, where he will be able to put aside temporarily the political setback at home for a turn on the global stage, where he remains widely admired.

    Around the world, concern over the global impact of U.S. elections Keith B. Richburg 2010

  • Much like President Bill Clinton took solace from the Democratic defeat in the 1994 midterms, so does Obama embark this week on a lengthy trip to Asia, where he will be able to put aside temporarily the political setback at home for a turn on the global stage, where he remains widely admired.

    Around the world, concern over the global impact of U.S. elections Keith B. Richburg 2010

  • That's pretty gross, I know, but at least here in the Rocky Mountain State we can take solace from the fact that we're not Mississippi, the nation's fattest state, where better than one out of every three people is considered obese.

    Todd Hartley: Colorado: The Short End of the Fat Stick Todd Hartley 2010

Comments

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  • what solace

    Can be struck from rock to make heart's waste

    grow green again?

    from "Winter Landscape, With Rooks," Sylvia Plath

    March 31, 2008

  • "That delight, solace, and pleasure, which shall come to man by woman, is prognosticated by that place wherein woman was created: for she was framed in Paradice, a place of all delight and pleasure, euery element hath his creatures, euery creature doth corresponde the temper and the inclination of that element wherein it hath and tooke his first and principall esse, or being."

    - Ester Sowernam, 'Ester hath hang'd Haman', 1617.

    August 5, 2009

  • "Solace of salt air" (from Heroes, a TV show, but I love that phrase)

    "The Earth is large. Large enough that you think you can hide from anything. From Fate. From God. If only you found a place far enough away. So you run. To the edge of the Earth. Where all is safe again. Quiet, and warm. The solace of salt air. The peace of danger left behind. The luxury of grief. And maybe, for a moment, you believe you have escaped."

    October 26, 2009

  • i'm always forgetting about this word and rediscovering it. welcome back to my brain you sexy noun / verb.

    June 3, 2012