placebo

noun

pla·ce·bo | \ plə-ˈsē-(ˌ)bō

plural placebos

Definition of placebo

1a : a usually pharmacologically inert preparation prescribed more for the mental relief of the patient than for its actual effect on a disorder

b : an inert or innocuous substance used especially in controlled experiments testing the efficacy of another substance (such as a drug)

2 : something tending to soothe

Did You Know? Example Sentences Learn More about placebo

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Did You Know?

Doctors doing research on new treatments for disease often give one group a placebo while a second group takes the new medication. Since those in the placebo group usually believe they're getting the real thing, their own hopeful attitude may bring about improvement in their condition. Thus, for the real drug to be considered effective, it must produce even better results than the placebo. Placebos have another use as well. A doctor who suspects that a patient's physical symptoms are psychologically produced may prescribe a placebo in the hope that mentally produced symptoms can also be mentally cured.

Examples of placebo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The drug’s greatest impact seemed to be in the first year after treatment, when only 7 percent developed type 1 diabetes, compared with 44 percent who received placebo. — NBC News, "Experimental drug delays type 1 diabetes in high risk children," 10 June 2019 Forty-three percent of those who got the experimental drug developed diabetes after 5 years, versus 72% of those receiving a placebo. — Jennifer Couzin-frankel, Science | AAAS, "In milestone trial, experimental drug delays type 1 diabetes," 9 June 2019 In this study, women who took Kisqali lived an average of 24 months without their disease progressing, compared to 13 months for women who took a placebo. — Samantha Lauriello, Health.com, "A New Breast Cancer Treatment Can Extend the Lives of Younger Patients, Study Finds," 4 June 2019 One soldier received a placebo, but three others were given varying doses of the drug. — Robert D. Mcfadden, New York Times, "James Ketchum, Who Conducted LSD Experiments on Soldiers, Dies at 87," 3 June 2019 It was also proven to give people 3 times more time without their lung cancer growing or spreading compared with people receiving placebo. — Astrazeneca, USA TODAY, "Tapping into the immune system shows promise in stage 3 lung cancer," 3 June 2019 Online discussions threaten to compromise trial integrity when participants join forces to work out who is receiving a placebo. — Heidi Ledford, Scientific American, "A Question of Control," 16 May 2019 The aggression literature is easy to misinterpret, but people randomly assigned to use cannabis in the laboratory are no more hostile than those who receive a placebo. — WSJ, "Arriving at the Least Bad Marijuana Policy," 11 Jan. 2019 The Expert Says: There's limited scientific evidence on CBD’s effects on anxiety in humans, but that doesn't mean it’s just placebo. — The Editors, Marie Claire, "10 Health Issues CBD Could Solve," 17 Apr. 2019

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