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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

FIFA’s president, Gianni Infantino, has repeatedly positioned the sport as a force for inclusion and social cohesion; soccer diplomacy is being elevated as the panacea for our current global disharmony.

From Salon ● Jul. 18, 2026

American schools have wrestled with learning loss for the better part of a decade and no one has found a panacea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026

He slammed growing unilateralism and protectionism, which he said was "no panacea for resolving problems".

From Barron's ● Mar. 22, 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

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

Obesity researchers Peter Janiszewski and Travis Saunders, in Obesity Panacea, focus on the latest weight-loss gimmicks, plumbing questions such as whether Instagram fitness gurus inspire people to become more active.

From Washington Post ● Nov. 23, 2018

He had been wanting to leave Panacea, in fact, for four years, but had not mustered the financial wherewithal to do it, and the arrival of a Category 4 hurricane did nothing to change that.

From New York Times ● Oct. 11, 2018

I feared that the Panacea and Cure-Everything trick had been played too often, but I determined to make one big try, and I think that at last my fortune is made.

From Doesticks, What He Says by Q. K. Philander Doesticks

They are not panaceas, but they can help to set the tenor of debate.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 1, 2023

There are no panaceas, but we can and must do better for our communities and those suffering from behavioral health issues.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 17, 2023

They aren't panaceas, however, and these drugs can come with side effects or just fail to work for some individuals.

From Salon ● Dec. 30, 2022

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

From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2022

One of the great panaceas of Lord Normanby's protégé is, that the land should be "set at full rents, on sensible leases"—which he proceeds to describe as leases for not less than twenty-one years.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine - Volume 55, No. 343, May 1844 by Various

Related Words

• elixir