panacea
noun
Did you know?
The maxim “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” isn’t true, but belief in a miraculous botanical “cure for whatever ails ya” has existed for millennia and is at the root of the word panacea. In current use, panacea most often refers to a remedy—medical or otherwise—that inevitably falls far short of what some claim or hope it can do, but the word’s Latin and Greek forebears referred to plants with legit healing properties, including mints and yarrows. Both the Latin word panacēa and its Greek antecedent panákeia (from the word panakēs, meaning “all-healing”) were applied especially to flowering herbs (genus Opopanax) of the carrot family used to treat various ailments.
Examples of panacea in a Sentence
Katie Thornton, New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2025
Amazon delivery contractors quickly learn that bailing is no panacea.
—Bloomberg, Mercury News, 20 Oct. 2025
There is no single panacea that will spur more development and investment, but there are a few tools to bring about that vibrant future that are incredibly basic and simple.
—Wes Burdine, Twin Cities, 19 Oct. 2025
Back-to-back championships by the Dodgers could embolden MLB and add to a chorus of fans who see a cap as a panacea for the plague of big-money teams monopolizing championships over the past decade.
—Shaun McAvoy, MSNBC Newsweek, 16 Oct. 2025
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Cite this Entry
“Panacea.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/panacea. Accessed 4 Nov. 2025.
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panacea
noun
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