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snake oil
noun
Examples of snake oil in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Gibson is still an imperfect, if attention-grabbing, vehicle into a wider survey of why people, especially women, are so drawn to snake oil.
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Alison Herman, Variety, 6 Feb. 2025
So goes every health grift, preached by everyone from snake oil salesmen to chumbox clickbait to, probably, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the not-too-distant future.
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Angie Han, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Sep. 2019
Photograph: Astell & Kern Accessories are where the vast majority of audio snake oil shows up.
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Parker Hall, WIRED, 30 Jan. 2025
Anyone who can afford that fee can also afford plenty of snake oil, and Shlain has watched clients fall victim to various wellness-industry scams.
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Grace Huckins, Robb Report, 20 Jan. 2025
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Word History
First Known Use
1917, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near snake oil
Cite this Entry
“Snake oil.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/snake%20oil. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
Medical Definition
snake oil
noun
: any of various substances or mixtures sold (as by a traveling medicine show) as medicine usually without having had the claims of their medical worth or properties substantiated by scientific tests
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