Did You Know?

If you're solicitous about learning the connections between words, you'll surely want to know about the relationship between "solicitous" and another word you've probably heard before-"solicit." "Solicitous" doesn't come from "solicit," but the two words are related. They both have their roots in the Latin word sollicitus, meaning "anxious." "Solicitous" itself came directly from this Latin word, whereas "solicit" made its way to English with a few more steps. From "sollicitus" came the Latin verb sollicitare, meaning "to disturb, agitate, move, or entreat." Forms of this verb were borrowed into Anglo-French, and then Middle English, and have survived in Modern English as "solicit."

Examples of solicitous in a Sentence

I appreciated his solicitous inquiry about my health. He had always been solicitous for the welfare of his family.

Recent Examples on the Web The bill would also create the Office of United States Corporations at the Department of Commerce, which would have the authority to punish any company deemed insufficiently solicitous to stakeholder interests. — Richard Morrison, National Review, "Biden Brain Trust: Forget the Billionaires, Guillotine the Corporations," 23 Nov. 2020 Its solicitous approach has given space for Mr. Trump and his allies to push speculation and unfounded conspiracy theories, and deflect blame for their own mistakes. — New York Times, "In Hunt for Virus Source, W.H.O. Let China Take Charge," 4 Nov. 2020 Trump has been notably solicitous of Limbaugh, giving him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and tweeting sympathetically about his health. — Jane Mayer, The New Yorker, "Why Trump Can’t Afford to Lose," 1 Nov. 2020 And that Trump is so gullible, so gormless, so solicitous of foreign adversaries, may make some of us on the left more open to a new understanding of the CIA, if only as a counterweight to the dupe in charge. — Greg Barnhisel, The New Republic, "The Making of the “Good CIA”," 3 Sep. 2020 Among colleagues, Williams was known for consuming almost every legal opinion circulating on a legal question before the court and being unfailingly polite and solicitous toward clerks and staff. — Washington Post, "Federal D.C. appeals judge Stephen F. Williams dies of coronavirus at 83," 8 Aug. 2020 Judith told me that after our conversation, a very solicitous Verizon rep called her. — John Kelly, Washington Post, "The cellphone bill came in her dead husband’s name. Changing it wasn’t easy.," 8 July 2020 Towards the end of his life, Bob required the help of Liddie, his solicitous wife. — David Pryce-jones, National Review, "Robert Conquest: Sovietologist and Poet," 28 Apr. 2020 Like the 2017 film, in which a young black man’s visit with his white girlfriend’s overly solicitous family evolves into a horror story, Spruill and Richburg’s visit to the Pine Tree Associates nudist club left them feeling tokenized. — Washington Post, "Secret Annapolis area nudist club struggles with inclusivity," 1 Mar. 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'solicitous.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.