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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

See also: placebo

German

Alternative forms

Noun

Placebo n (genitive Placebos, plural Placebos)

  1. placebo

Derived terms

placebo

placebo

See also: Placebo

English

Noun

placebo (plural placebos or placeboes)

  1. (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.
  2. (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.

Antonyms

Derived terms

Translations


French

Etymology

From Latin

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

  1. placebo

Italian

Etymology

From Latin

Noun

placebo m (invariable)

  1. (pharmacology, figuratively) placebo

Derived terms


Latin

Verb

placēbō

  1. first-person singular future active indicative of placeō

References


Portuguese

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

  1. (medicine) placebo (a dummy medicine containing no active ingredients)

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin

Noun

placebo m (plural placebos)

  1. placebo