SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS

solicitous

adjective

Showing attentive concern or care, sometimes excessively.

Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
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Attentively concerned

Closest synonyms

Related words and expressions

These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.

Usage distinction

Solicitous describes active concern for another's needs. Anxious emphasizes worry, and protective emphasizes preventing harm.

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CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT

See solicitous in use

The solicitous host checked whether every guest had a seat.
Dictionary practice example.
Later, an actor became petulant because a minor costume adjustment delayed his scene. He complained about the inconvenience and pushed the revised schedule away. A solicitous costume assistant asked what he needed and offered a quiet place to review his lines while she finished the adjustment.
From Different Reactions in One Rehearsal.

Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.

Synonym reference scope and sources

The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.

How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license

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