a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine.
a substance having no pharmacological effect but administered as a control in testing experimentally or clinically the efficacy of a biologically active preparation.
Compare nocebo (def. 1).
Roman Catholic Church. the vespers of the office for the dead: so called from the initial word of the first antiphon, taken from Psalm 114:9 of the Vulgate.
Origin of placebo
1175–1225 for def. 2; 1775–85 for def. 1; Middle English <Latin placēbō “I shall be pleasing, acceptable”
Words nearby placebo
placas, placate, placative, placatory, place, placebo, placebo effect, place card, placeholder, place in the sun, place kick
A large number of people are given either the vaccine or a placebo and then sent back to live their lives, assuming that some of them, at some point, will be exposed to the virus.
Some Volunteers Want To Be Infected With Coronavirus To Help Find A Vaccine. But It Isn’t That Simple.|Kaleigh Rogers (kaleigh.rogers@fivethirtyeight.com)|August 6, 2020|FiveThirtyEight
Mice treated with a placebo drug or Brd4 inhibitor alone fared worse.
These cells slow an immune response. Derailing them could help fight tumors|Esther Landhuis|July 10, 2020|Science News
After the surgery he discovered that he had simply drunk fruit juice with added sugar and he had been given a placebo.
The Week in Death: Alexander Shulgrin, Who Synthesized the Drug Ecstasy|The Telegraph|June 7, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Nobody conceived of a thing like the placebo effect or researcher bias —none of these notions had been worked out yet.
Following Tuberculosis From Death Sentence to Cure|Tessa Miller|April 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Those who had received the actual drug reported better levels of self-satisfaction than the unfortunates who just got the placebo.
Kythera Helps You Melt Your Double Chin, No Diet or Surgery Required|Daniel Gross|September 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
The second is the placebo effect, which will often cause anything presented as medication to “work.”
America’s Epidemic of Psychiatric Over-Diagnosis|Jesse Singal|June 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Of 8,696 men taking a placebo (the comparison group), 529 (9.3 cancers per 1,000 person-years) developed the disease.
Will Supplements Kill You?|Sharon Begley|October 11, 2011|DAILY BEAST
With him Placebo justifies his assentation on the ground that lords are better informed than their inferiors.
The Works of Alexander Pope, Volume 1|Alexander Pope
We'll call this the placebo criticism and will come back to it, too, in a moment.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn|Steven J. Bartlett
The placebo effect has become increasingly interesting to psychological as well as medical researchers.
When You Don't Know Where to Turn|Steven J. Bartlett
This is a last phase of the metaphysical polity, and is only a kind of placebo.
The World's Greatest Books--Volume 14--Philosophy and Economics|Various
The dirage was concluded, and vespers for the dead were now commencing with the "Placebo Domino."
Traditions of Lancashire, Volume 1 (of 2)|John Roby
British Dictionary definitions for placebo
placebo
/ (pləˈsiːbəʊ) /
nounplural-bosor-boes
medan inactive substance or other sham form of therapy administered to a patient usually to compare its effects with those of a real drug or treatment, but sometimes for the psychological benefit to the patient through his believing he is receiving treatmentSee also control group, placebo effect
something said or done to please or humour another
RC Churcha traditional name for the vespers of the office for the dead
Word Origin for placebo
C13 (in the ecclesiastical sense): from Latin Placebo Domino I shall please the Lord (from the opening of the office for the dead); C19 (in the medical sense)
A substance containing no medication and prescribed to reinforce a patient's expectation of getting well or used as a control in a clinical research trial to determine the effectiveness of a potential new drug.