The solace meaning is comfort or relief that you find when you are sad, worried or hurting. If music, a friend's call or a quiet walk makes a painful week easier to bear, that thing gives you solace.
It is a soft, slightly literary word, used most often with grief, loss and disappointment. Solace does not erase the pain; it eases it. To define solace properly, this page covers the meaning of solace in plain terms, its pronunciation (it is shorter than many expect), the phrases it lives in and a few words people confuse with it.
Entry at a glance
Meaning
Comfort in sorrow or distressPart of speech
Noun (mainly); also a formal verbPronunciation
SOL-is (rhymes with polish without the h)Common phrases
find solace in, take solace in, seek solaceOrigin
Old French solas, from Latin solacium, comfortOpposite
Distress, torment, anguishRegister
Gentle, a little formal or literary
What does solace mean?
Solace is the comfort that reaches you in the middle of trouble. Without the trouble, the word does not fit: you would not say a nice lunch on an ordinary day gave you solace. You might say it if the lunch came the day after bad news and helped you breathe again.
It can be the comfort itself (She found solace in her garden) or, less often, the source of comfort (The garden was her solace).
Solace meaning in phrases you will hear
- Find solace in something: discover comfort in it. After the move, he found solace in cooking his mother's recipes.
- Take solace in a fact: let it comfort you. We lost the final, but we took solace in how well the younger players did.
- Seek solace: look for comfort. Many people seek solace in prayer or long walks.
- Offer or bring solace: give comfort to someone else. Letters from old friends brought her real solace.
- Small solace or little solace: weak comfort. The refund was small solace after a ruined holiday.
Moments that call for the word
More sentences:
- The night nurse's calm voice was a solace to the frightened patient.
- Reading old poems gave him solace during the long winter of his illness.
- Fans took some solace from the fact that the stadium would be rebuilt.
Using solace as a verb
Solace can also be a verb meaning to comfort: She solaced herself with tea and an old film. This use sounds old-fashioned or poetic, so in everyday writing comfort or console is more natural. The noun is far more common and is the form most readers will meet.
Origin: comfort, not loneliness
English borrowed it from Old French solas, meaning comfort or pleasure, from Latin solacium, from the verb solari, to console. The verb console has a related root, which is why the two words feel close.
Despite the look, solace is not related to solo or solitude, which come from Latin solus, alone. People do often find solace in solitude, but that is a happy coincidence of meaning, not of history.
Solace compared with consolation, comfort and relief
| Word | How it differs |
|---|---|
| Solace | Gentle comfort in grief or sorrow; slightly literary |
| Consolation | Comfort after a loss; also a prize for those who did not win |
| Comfort | The everyday word; also physical ease, like a soft chair |
| Relief | The feeling when pain or worry stops or lessens |
| Compassion | The feeling that moves someone to offer solace |
Solace and grief often appear together. For calm that lasts after the comfort, see serenity, and browse kindred words in the feelings collection.
Frequently asked questions
How do you pronounce solace?
Say SOL-is, two short syllables, leaning on SOL. It does not sound like sole-ace or so-lace, which are common mispronunciations.
Is it find solace in or find solace with?
Use in for the source of comfort: find solace in music, in friends, in work. You can also say find solace with people, but in is far more common.
Is solace a positive word?
It is positive, but it always points to a sad or hard situation. The comfort is good, while the reason someone needs it is not.
Can solace be plural?
Rarely. You can speak of the solaces of old age in literary writing, but most of the time solace is used as an uncountable noun.
What is the definition of solace in one line?
Solace is comfort or relief given or found in a time of sadness, loss or worry.