nostrum

noun

nos·​trum ˈnä-strəm How to pronounce nostrum (audio)
1
: a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness
… is put to work at county fairs, promoting a quack nostrum for pain relief.Patrick McGrath
2
: a usually questionable remedy or scheme : panacea
an audience eager to believe he had found the nostrum for all of society's illsWarren Sloat

Did you know?

"Whether there was real efficacy in these nostrums, and whether their author himself had faith in them, is more than can safely be said," wrote 19th-century American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, "but, at all events, the public believed in them." The word nostrum has often been linked to quack medicine and false hopes for miracle cures, but there's nothing deceitful about its etymology. It has been a part of English since at least the early 17th century, and it comes from the Latin noster, meaning "our" or "ours." Some think that specially prepared medicinal concoctions came to be called nostrums because their purveyors marketed them as "our own" remedy. In other words, the use of nostrum emphasized that such a potion was unique or exclusive to the pitchman peddling it.

Examples of nostrum in a Sentence

politicians repeating all the usual nostrums about the economy using garlic as a nostrum to prevent disease
Recent Examples on the Web Expressed in what economists call the Phillips curve, this nostrum proved nearly useless in explaining the economy’s recent behavior. David J. Lynch, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2024 In September 2021, DeSantis appointed as his state’s surgeon general the COVID crank Joseph Ladapo, an advocate of the useless anti-COVID nostrums hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and a persistent anti-vaccine advocate. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024 This is a departure from the standard time-travel nostrum that any change to the past runs the danger of making things immeasurably worse in the future. Jennifer Ouellette and Sean M. Carroll, Ars Technica, 24 Nov. 2023 Worthless nostrums such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin have been promoted as COVID treatments based on transparently bogus evidence. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 24 Oct. 2023 That’s because the agency’s duty is to stand in the way of businesses desiring to push unsafe and ineffective nostrums at unwary consumers, and also in the way of a perverse idea that personal freedom includes the freedom to be gulled by charlatans. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 27 Sep. 2023 This is a guy who has promoted nostrums that science has shown to be utterly useless against COVID, such as the anti-parasitic ivermectin and the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 15 Sep. 2023 Most central and eastern European countries had already succumbed to authoritarianism or different variations of fascism, and the Great Depression suggested that the activist solutions implemented by both extremes were better than the feeble nostrums liberalism could offer. Shlomo Avineri, Foreign Affairs, 1 Jan. 2012 Christie’s other nostrum is to raise the retirement age. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 10 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'nostrum.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Latin, neuter of noster our, ours, from nos we — more at us

First Known Use

1602, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of nostrum was in 1602

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Cite this Entry

“Nostrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/nostrum. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Medical Definition

nostrum

noun
nos·​trum ˈnäs-trəm How to pronounce nostrum (audio)
: a medicine of secret composition recommended by its preparer but usually without scientific proof of its effectiveness

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