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• panacea
  panacea

  noun

  a remedy for all disease or ills.
• Panacea
  Panacea

  noun

  an ancient Greek goddess of healing.

panacea

¹ American  

[pan-uh-see-uh] / ˌpæn əˈsi ə /

noun

• panaceas
  plural

1. a remedy for all disease or ills.

   Synonyms:

   cure-all, nostrum, elixir

2. an answer or solution for all problems or difficulties.

   His economic philosophy is a good one, but he tries to use it as a panacea.

   Synonyms:

   cure-all, nostrum, elixir

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Panacea ² American  

[pan-uh-see-uh] / ˌpæn əˈsi ə /

noun

1. an ancient Greek goddess of healing.

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panacea British  

/ ˌpænəˈsɪə /

noun

1. a remedy for all diseases or ills

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• panacean
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• panaceas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of panacea

First recorded in 1540–50; from Latin, from Greek panákeia, equivalent to panake-, stem of panakḗs “all-healing” ( pan- “all” + akḗs “a cure”) + -ia noun suffix; pan-, -ia

Explanation

If someone offers you a pill that promises eternal life, don’t take the pill. It’s a panacea, a remedy that falsely claims to solve every problem ever. The Greek word pan means “all” (think of a panorama, a view where you can see everywhere). The Greek word for “cure” is akēs (which looks like the word “aches”). Those are the roots of panacea, a cure for all aches. But a panacea doesn’t really cure everything; it just acts like it can. Use the word to describe an unbelievable solution, like a new law that will make everyone rich, or a robot that does your homework for you.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

panacea Panacea panaceas

Of course, passing American Dream and Promise Act is not a panacea.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

It’s a panacea, but they aren’t yet ready for use in production vehicles.

From Barron's ● Jun. 18, 2026

When sliced, each irregular disk holds triterpenoids and p-couramic acid — panacea to reduce inflammation, with potential anti-cancer properties.

From Salon ● May 9, 2026

The layoffs also lend credence to a growing public perception that AI isn’t a panacea but a job killer.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 27, 2026

But there is frighteningly little evidence that his strategy was the crime panacea that he and the media deemed it.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Southcott's box was kept in The Bishops' House, on Newnham Road, which is now the home to the Panacea Museum.

From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2019

Their home is Panacea, a 47-foot yacht-style boat.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 14, 2019

The Panacea Society began in 1918 after its leader, Octavia, was discovered by her first followers to be the Daughter of God.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 19, 2019

Mr. Bearden had not planned to stay in Panacea when he visited his aunt in 2014.

From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2018

Men of science averred that he had found the Universal Panacea.

From Maitre Cornelius by Honoré de Balzac

Some parents of children with autism, desperate for a remedy, have long reached for dubious and at times dangerous panaceas, including hyperbaric oxygen chambers and chelation therapy, used for the treatment of heavy metal poisoning.

From Salon ● Dec. 15, 2025

Digital platforms are not panaceas for food insecurity, notes Georgiana Nica-Avram at Nottingham University Business School.

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2022

There are no such instant championship panaceas awaiting local squads this season.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 29, 2018

I wish I could offer an easy formula for countering this kind of deception, but I am not in the business of selling panaceas or telling fairy tales.

From Slate ● Jan. 23, 2017

It must not be supposed that we have any legislative panaceas to offer, or that the suggestions we make are necessarily the correct ones.

From Applied Eugenics by Paul Popenoe

Related Words

• elixir