Solicitude is anxious care for somebody's welfare. Show great solicitude, touching solicitude, solicitude for the sick.
The anxiety is what separates it from kindness, since solicitude is care with worry in it. It is formal and can be faintly ironic, as excessive solicitude is a way of saying somebody fussed.
1nounsolicitudeAnxious care for somebody's welfare.
“The nurse asked about his pain with real solicitude, checking on him every hour.”
solicitude is a care.
Latin sollicitudo means anxiety, from sollicitus, agitated, from sollus, whole, plus ciere, to stir.
Latin
sollicitūdō — anxiety
Old French
sollicitude
Middle English
solicitude
English, today
solicitude
Built from
From Middle English solicitude, from Old French sollicitude, from Latin sollicitūdō (“anxiety”), from sollicitus, solicitus (“anxious, solicitous”). See solicitous.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA