Word of the day · 30 July 2026
panacea
/ˌpænəˈsiːə/
noun
A remedy claimed to cure all diseases or solve all problems; a supposed cure-all.
In a sentence
- There is no panacea for traffic in a growing city.
- Investors treated the app like a panacea for retail decline.
- Sleep helps, but it is not a panacea for every mood swing.
In an image
Origin
From Greek panakeia (universal remedy), from pan- (all) and akos (cure); also the name of a goddess of healing.
History
Classical medicine treated panacea as an ideal universal cure. English speakers kept the literal hope and the skeptical jab at false miracle fixes. Politics and tech marketing still sell panaceas that oversimplify hard systems. Careful writers use the word to warn as much as to wish.
Nearby words
cure-all · elixir · nostrum
The tempting promise that one fix will heal everything.