Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Placebo
‖
Pla-ce′bo
,Noun.
[L., I shall please, fut. of
placere
to please.] 1.
(R. C. Ch.)
The first antiphon of the vespers for the dead.
2.
(Med.)
A prescription with no pharmacological activity given to a patient to humor or satisfy the desire for medical treatment.
To sing placebo
, to agree with one in his opinion; to be complaisant to.
Chaucer.
Definition 2024
Placebo
placebo
placebo
See also: Placebo
English
Noun
placebo (plural placebos or placeboes)
- (medicine) A dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment. [from 18th c.]
- 2010, Edzard Ernst, The Guardian, 22 Feb 2010:
- The acid test, I thought, was whether homeopathic remedies behave differently from placebos when submitted to clinical trials.
- 2010, Edzard Ernst, The Guardian, 22 Feb 2010:
- (Roman Catholicism) The vespers sung in the office for the dead. [from 13th c.]
- 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 349:
- There the placebo, the office for the dead, was sung, and a vigil kept throughout the night.
- 2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin 2012, p. 349:
Antonyms
Derived terms
Derived terms
Translations
a dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment
Italian
Etymology
From Latin
Noun
placebo m (invariable)
- (pharmacology, figuratively) placebo
Derived terms
Latin
Verb
placēbō
- first-person singular future active indicative of placeō
References
- PLACEBO in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)