panacea

noun pan·a·cea \ ˌpa-nə-ˈsē-ə \

Definition of panacea

:a remedy for all ills or difficulties :cure-all

The law will improve the lives of local farmers, but it is no panacea.

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panacean

play \ˌpa-nə-ˈsē-ən\ adjective

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Examples of panacea in a Sentence

The law will improve the lives of local farmers, but it is no panacea.
a woman who seems to believe that chicken soup is a panacea for nearly everything

Recent Examples of panacea from the Web

The new formula, however, is not a panacea for District 204, which is predicting declining enrollments and rising home values.

— suzanne baker, Naperville Sun, "After Rauner signs funding bill, Naperville-area schools may see state dollars," 29 Aug. 2017
And to make things worse, the poor souls who stick around in July and August have to put up with Spain’s sorry excuse for summer’s greatest panacea—iced coffee.

— benjamin kemper, CNT, "Why Good Iced Coffee Is Hard to Find in Spain," 5 Aug. 2017
Promoting democratic regimes, however, is no panacea; democratic transitions engineered by outsiders usually fail.

— alexander b. downes, Washington Post, "The Trump administration wants regime change in Iran. But regime change usually doesn’t work.," 31 July 2017
But with any type of technology, body and dash cams are no panacea.

— david kravets, Ars Technica, "34 criminal cases tossed after body cam footage shows cop planting drugs," 29 July 2017
Nor should any one particular change be hailed a panacea for all that ails the city.

— Cincinnati.com, "Column: Council looks to improve Loveland’s City Charter," 19 July 2017
All of these technological advances aren’t meant to be a panacea, and analysts warn that the quality and affordability of such products can vary greatly.

— gary robbins, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Baby boomers fuel wave of products meant to help them live longer and better," 30 June 2017
Deregulation, we were told, was the panacea for our ills.

— guest columnist/cleveland.com, cleveland.com, "Is 'government' really the evil entity we make it out to be? The Rev. Robert Winter (Opinion)," 25 June 2017
Because the ultimate goal, the panacea for human health, is to build and maintain diverse, strong communities.

— james hamblin, The Atlantic, "Most People Identify as Huggers, Rarely Hug," 24 June 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'panacea.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

panacea Comes From the Name of a Greek Goddess

Panacea comes from a Greek word meaning "all-healing", and Panacea was the goddess of healing. In the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, alchemists who sought to concoct the "elixir of life" (which would give eternal life) and the "philosopher's stone" (which would turn ordinary metals into gold) also labored to find the panacea. But no such medicine was ever found, just as no solution to all of a society's difficulties has ever been found. Thus, panacea is almost always used to criticize the very idea of a total solution ("There's no panacea for the current problems plaguing Wall Street").