This work is devoted to the small amplitude solutions for the initial value problem of the multidimensional dissipative Boussinesq equation. We firstly derive the pointwise estimates of the fundamental solutions by the energy method in the Fourier space. We give the asymptotic profiles of solutions to the corresponding linear problem to get the optimal decay rate for the . H s -norm of solutions in all space dimensions. Under smallness assumptions on the initial data, we study the global existence and uniqueness of solutions by the contractive mapping principle in the solution spaces with time weighted norm. KEYWORDS dissipative Boussinesq equation, optimal decay rates, small global solutions MSC CLASSIFICATION 35Q35; 35L30; 35B40He was the first to give a scientific explanation to the existence of solitary waves, long, shallow, and water waves of permanent form, found by Scott Russell. 2 A generalization of Equation (4) is considered, which arises in the modeling of nonlinear strings, namely, Math Meth Appl Sci. 2020;43:174-198. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/mma