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

The alternative, the panacea for that desperation if there is one, is solidarity. —Matthew Specktor, The Hollywood Reporter, 17 Jan. 2025

Harnessing Maddow’s star power five nights a week may not prove to be a panacea for all of the network’s challenges as audiences continue to cut the cable cord, executives are banking on it to help buoy the progressive network’s viewership. —Liam Reilly, CNN, 13 Jan. 2025

This sort of thing is not a panacea for the needs of people living on the streets and rights of way in our cities. —Roger Valdez, Forbes, 7 Jan. 2025

Length Through Strength Static stretching is not the panacea for health that it was once thought to be. —Wes Judd, Outside Online, 6 Jan. 2025

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