panacea

noun

pan·​a·​cea ˌpa-nə-ˈsē-ə 

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

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

panacean

ˌpa-nə-ˈsē-ən 

adjective

Did you know?

English speakers took panacea from Latin, but as is the case with many Latin borrowings, the word ultimately traces its roots to Greek: panakēs, meaning "all-healing,” comes from pan-, meaning "all," and akos, meaning “remedy.” The Latin designation Panacea or Panaces was in past centuries awarded to various plants, among them the herb today known as Prunella vulgaris, whose common name is self-heal. In current use, panacea is most often used to decry a remedy that falls far short of what some claim it can do.

Synonyms

• catholicon
• cure-all
• elixir
• nostrum
• theriac

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 on the Web

No, this is not a panacea for all our social and political ills. —Jon Lapook, CBS News, 3 Nov. 2024

Hernandez said the wall should be seen as just one part of the border security effort that Harris would pursue, not as a panacea. —Laura Strickler, NBC News, 29 Sep. 2024

In politics as in much of life, panaceas don’t exist. —Michael S. Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 6 Oct. 2024

When the first draft of the human genome was unveiled, it was billed as a panacea, hiding within its code secrets that would help each and every one of us unlock a personalized health plan. —Kristen V. Brown, The Atlantic, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from New Latin panacēa "universal remedy, cure-all," going back to Latin, "any of various medicinal plants," borrowed from Greek panákeia "name of a medicinal plant, universal remedy, (as a personified abstraction) a goddess of healing," derivative of panakḗs "all-healing," from pan- pan- + -akēs, adjective derivative of ákos (neuter s-stem) "cure, remedy, relief," of uncertain origin

Note: If initial aspiration was lost, and the aspiration was the residue of yod, then ákos might be comparable with Old Irish ícc "payment, compensation, redemption, act of curing, healing" (Modern Irish íoc), Middle Welsh yach "healthy" (Modern Welsh iach), Old Cornish iach (glossing Latin sānus), Old Breton iac (glossing Latin suspite = sospite "safe and sound") (Modern Breton yac'h "healthy"). The phonetic details are problematic, however.

First Known Use

1548, in the meaning defined above

Podcast

Get Word of the Day delivered to your inbox!

Kids Definition

panacea

noun

pan·​a·​cea ˌpan-ə-ˈsē-ə 

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

Medical Definition

panacea

noun

pan·​a·​cea ˌpan-ə-ˈsē-ə 

: a remedy for all ills or difficulties

panacean

-ˈsē-ən 

adjective