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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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
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While not the panacea that many in Silicon Valley suggest, technology can reduce instructional costs with the same or even better results.
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This is not a panacea, nor is it intended to stand alone.
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But Smyth knows as well as anyone that attending school is not a panacea.
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Simple panaceas and strongman personas resonate among publics weary of complexity.
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Still, the regulation is not a panacea, consumer advocates say.
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The popular panacea is the return of manufacturing jobs, which Rajan says will not happen.
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But this program is not built on the premise that serious games are a panacea.
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").
Origin and Etymology of panacea
Latin, from Greek panakeia, from panakēs all-healing, from pan- + akos remedy
First Known Use: 1548
PANACEA Defined for English Language Learners
panacea
playDefinition of panacea for English Language Learners
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: something that will make everything about a situation better
Medical Dictionary
Learn More about panacea
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Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for panacea Spanish Central: Translation of panacea Nglish: Translation of panacea for Spanish speakers Britannica English: Translation of panacea for Arabic speakers
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