SOLACE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does solace mean? 

• SOLACE (noun)
  The noun SOLACE has 3 senses:

1. the comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment

2. comfort in disappointment or misery

3. the act of consoling; giving relief in affliction

  Familiarity information: SOLACE used as a noun is uncommon.

• SOLACE (verb)
  The verb SOLACE has 1 sense:

1. give moral or emotional strength to

  Familiarity information: SOLACE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOLACE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

consolation; solace; solacement

Context example:

second place was no consolation to him

Hypernyms ("solace" is a kind of...):

comfort (a feeling of freedom from worry or disappointment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "solace"):

cold comfort (very limited consolation or empathy)

bright side; silver lining (a consoling aspect of a difficult situation)

Derivation:

solace (give moral or emotional strength to)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Comfort in disappointment or misery

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Synonyms:

solace; solacement

Hypernyms ("solace" is a kind of...):

comfort; comfortableness (a state of being relaxed and feeling no pain)

Derivation:

solace (give moral or emotional strength to)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The act of consoling; giving relief in affliction

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

comfort; consolation; solace

Context example:

his presence was a consolation to her

Hypernyms ("solace" is a kind of...):

ministration; relief; succor; succour (assistance in time of difficulty)

Derivation:

solace (give moral or emotional strength to)

• SOLACE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they solace    ... he / she / it solaces   
Past simple: solaced   
Past participle: solaced   
-ing form: solacing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Give moral or emotional strength to

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Synonyms:

comfort; console; solace; soothe

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "solace"):

calm; calm down; lull; quiet; quieten; still; tranquilize; tranquillise; tranquillize (make calm or still)

allay; ease; relieve; still (lessen the intensity of or calm)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence example:

The good news will solace her

Derivation:

solace (the act of consoling; giving relief in affliction)

solace (the comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment)

solace (comfort in disappointment or misery)

solacement (the comfort you feel when consoled in times of disappointment)

solacement (comfort in disappointment or misery)

 Context examples 

You will always be my solace and resource, as you have always been.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Will I not guard, and cherish, and solace her?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Go on with your work as usual, for work is a blessed solace.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It is his companion all this evening, his solace, his delight.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Well, he was done, he solaced himself.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I had no solace from self-approbation: none even from self-respect.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

If there was any word of comfort that would be a solace to her in her dying hour, and only I possessed it, I wouldn't part with it for Life itself.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Poetry, however, was his solace, and he read much of it, finding his greatest joy in the simpler poets, who were more understandable.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

It was the best thing he could have done, far more soothing than the most eloquent words, for Jo felt the unspoken sympathy, and in the silence learned the sweet solace which affection administers to sorrow.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)