as in panacea
something that cures all ills or problems a quack nostrum for cancer of all types

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of nostrum That’s because the agency’s duty is to stand in the way of businesses desiring to push unsafe and ineffective nostrums at unwary consumers, and also in the way of a perverse idea that personal freedom includes the freedom to be gulled by charlatans. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2025 Population trends today should raise serious questions about all the old nostrums that humans are somehow hard-wired to replace themselves to continue the species. Nicholas Eberstadt, Foreign Affairs, 10 Oct. 2024 Expressed in what economists call the Phillips curve, this nostrum proved nearly useless in explaining the economy’s recent behavior. David J. Lynch, Washington Post, 28 Jan. 2024 In September 2021, DeSantis appointed as his state’s surgeon general the COVID crank Joseph Ladapo, an advocate of the useless anti-COVID nostrums hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin and a persistent anti-vaccine advocate. Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 22 Jan. 2024 See All Example Sentences for nostrum
Recent Examples of Synonyms for nostrum
Noun
  • If the rule of law is indeed in danger due to the public’s lack of education, then more continual education becomes the panacea.
    Blake D. Morant, Forbes.com, 3 Apr. 2025
  • Despite the health risks of having a higher weight, losing weight is far from a panacea.
    Erica Sloan, SELF, 26 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • In the second act of the Broadway musical, Elphaba fakes her death when a mob of Oz citizens chase Elphaba and Dorothy throws a bucket of water on her, melting her and leaving only her hat and the bottle of green elixir that belonged to her mother.
    Jason Pham, StyleCaster, 28 Mar. 2025
  • And through the magic elixir of bonding, Taylor soon had hundreds of millions of dollars to spend.
    Scott Herhold, Mercury News, 27 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • Most importantly, the proposal provides that, when discovery items are turned over belatedly, judges can impose consequences that stop short of dismissing the whole case, if a lesser remedy can ensure fairness to the defendant.
    Jane Manning, New York Daily News, 31 Mar. 2025
  • The affected vehicles include: 2020 to 2021 S90 2020 to 2022 S60 2020 to 2022 V60 2020 to 2022 XC60 2020 to 2022 XC90 2022 V90 Owners are advised not to charge their vehicles until the remedy has been completed.
    James Powel, USA Today, 31 Mar. 2025
Noun
  • There’s no cure for allergic asthma, but medications and lifestyle changes can help control symptoms.
    Susan Russell, Verywell Health, 8 Apr. 2025
  • Season 1 chronicled Joel and Ellie’s perilous journey across a country ravaged by a cordyceps pandemic to a hospital run by a militia group, where Ellie’s unique immunity to the infection could be used to create a cure.
    Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times, 7 Apr. 2025
Noun
  • L’Orvietan and its imitators had their roots in a more antique antidote called theriac.
    Elizabeth Heath, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2023
  • But with its long list of as many as 80 ingredients and high status, theriac was expensive and exclusive.
    Elizabeth Heath, Discover Magazine, 15 Feb. 2023
Noun
  • Doctors prescribe it to ease symptoms of testosterone deficiency — among them weight gain, muscle loss and depression — but dubious clinics also sell the therapy as a cure-all for a crisis of masculinity.
    The New York Times, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 Apr. 2025
  • Also referred to as petroleum jelly, which is the primary ingredient of Vaseline, it was invented during the 1800s as a cure-all balm and has become a household staple since.
    Kaitlyn Yarborough, Southern Living, 4 Apr. 2025

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“Nostrum.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/nostrum. Accessed 15 Apr. 2025.

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