How to Use patent medicine in a Sentence

patent medicine

noun

• By the end of the century, lithia water (water with a trace amount of lithium) was marketed as a patent medicine.
  — Shayla Love, The Atlantic, 4 Oct. 2024
• Who wouldn’t be thrilled by a single pill that could fix every unrelated malady? Pink Pills for Pale People were a ubiquitous patent medicine and thus a constant target for criticism.
  — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Nov. 2021
• With the patent medicine business in its prime, elixirs and liniments promised relief from every complaint under the sun.
  — Lloyd Minor, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2019
• The patent medicine industry would not fully collapse until the 1930s.
  — Nicole Hemmer, CNN, 28 Sep. 2021
• Perfume labels, posters advertising circuses, patent medicines, 5-cent cigars, and all manner of things — even ear tags for goats.
  — Carl Nolte, SFChronicle.com, 8 July 2018
• But more than that, widespread opiate use in Victorian America didn’t start with the patent medicines.
  — Jon Kelvey, Smithsonian, 3 Apr. 2018
• Judy Shelton got a taste of patent medicine of this sort when she was mobbed out of a Federal Reserve governorship.
  — Brian Domitrovic, Forbes, 11 Jan. 2025
• In the 1670s, what came to be called Jesuit bark had made its way into a popular patent medicine, along with rose leaves, lemon juice, and wine.
  — Adam Rogers, Wired, 11 Nov. 2020
• Many patent medicines ended up relying on large quantities of morphine or cocaine to give users a high instead of actually healing them.
  — Ben Panko, Smithsonian, 8 Feb. 2017
• So much so that as Shaker communities dwindled through the nineteenth century, others wanted the cachet of their name in the patent medicine world.
  — Matthew Wills, JSTOR Daily, 4 May 2026
• Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, the soft drink was initially sold at pharmacies as a patent medicine.
  — Melinda Salchert, Southern Living, 29 Sep. 2025
• In a deal that creates a behemoth in the market for everyday drugs, Pfizer agreed to merge its off-patent medicines business with Mylan, a generics drugmaker.
  — The Economist, 3 Aug. 2019
• Two of the handmade figures represented a banjo player and a character dubbed Doc Cogwheel, a patent medicine salesperson.
  — Dewayne Bevil, orlandosentinel.com, 7 Dec. 2020
• Fast forward to 2019 and the echoes of patent medicine in today’s marketplace are resounding, complete with claims of panacea treatment and the co-opting of real science.
  — Lloyd Minor, Fortune, 9 Sep. 2019
• In addition, companies and drugstores exploited loopholes by creating and selling patent medicines with high alcohol content.
  — David Reamer | Alaska History, Anchorage Daily News, 23 July 2023
• This solution certainly beats going to the IMF, which will offer its patent medicine of fiscal contraction, and perhaps capital controls.
  — The Editorial Board, WSJ, 12 Aug. 2018
• In reality, Kang explains, many patent medicines contained drugs like cocaine, morphine or alcohol, giving the illusion of an immediate soothing effect.
  — Jordan Friedman, Smithsonian Magazine, 21 Oct. 2024
• As such, the heyday of patent medicine emphasizes the need for scientific testing and logical skepticism, particularly when confronted by cure-alls and other extraordinary claims.
  — David Reamer, Anchorage Daily News, 21 Nov. 2021
• Sales of purgatives, tonics, syrups and patent medicines like Carter’s Little Liver Pills went through the roof as ordinary people were encouraged to closely monitor the frequency and quality of their bowel movements.
  — Elsa Richardson, TIME, 3 Oct. 2024