solicitous
adjective
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
Lawrence D. Freedman, Foreign Affairs, 13 Apr. 2020
Matty Placencia’s coolly charismatic John is prickly and standoffish at times, solicitous at others.
—Sam Hurwitt, The Mercury News, 19 Mar. 2024
König is a creep for the ages, and Stevens has a lip-smacking good time being solicitous but casually skeevy with Gretchen while showing an inordinate interest in Alma.
—David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 16 Feb. 2024
Helpful and friendly without being overly solicitous, folks who work at The Harper are genuine and kind.
—Kim Westerman, Forbes, 29 Feb. 2024
See all Example Sentences for solicitous 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'solicitous.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near solicitous
Cite this Entry
“Solicitous.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/solicitous. Accessed 15 Jul. 2024.
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solicitous
adjective
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