Other forms: solutions
A solution is the answer that makes a problem stop being a problem. The tap dripped for a week and the solution turned out to be a rubber washer the size of a coin.
The verb behind it is solve, and something that dissolves easily is soluble. It takes TO: the solution TO a problem, never of a problem. In chemistry a solution is a liquid with something dissolved so completely into it that you cannot see the stuff any more — salt in water, sugar in tea; the bag a nurse hangs on a drip is a saline solution. Business language has stretched the word thin, so companies now sell storage solutions and cleaning solutions when they mean shelves and soap.
1nounsolutionThe answer that ends a problem or difficulty.~62%
“The solution was simpler than anyone expected: move the desk away from the radiator.”
2nounliquidA liquid with a substance dissolved evenly through it.~38%
“Stir the powder into warm water until you have a clear solution.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 13 sentences found in the wild and placed 13 of them on a sense — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Solution came into English through Middle English solucioun and Old French solucion, from Latin solūtiōnem — a noun built on the verb solvō, the same verb that gives us solve and dissolve. Behind that lies a Proto-Indo-European root, *lewh₁-. One word ended up covering a knot coming untied and a lump of salt coming apart in water.
Proto-Indo-European
*lewh₁-
Middle English
solucioun
English, today
solution
From Middle English solucioun. From Middle English solucioun, from Old French solucion (French solution), from Latin solūtiōnem, accusative singular of solūtiō, from the verb solvō. Compare solve, -tion.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA