placebo

What it means

1. medicineA dummy medicine containing no active ingredients; an inert treatment.First known use 18th c.

   The acid test, I thought, was whether homeopathic remedies behave differently from placebos when submitted to clinical trials.

   2010 February 22, Edzard Ernst, “No to homeopathy placebo”, in The Guardian

   1 more example

   The trials overall showed some but limited effectiveness, and in one of the largest and longest trials, the placebo performed better in treating spasticity, pain and bladder dysfunction, Dr. Bowling wrote.

   2021 March 8, Jane E. Brody, “Medical Marijuana Is Not Regulated as Most Medicines Are”, in The New York Times

2. CatholicismThe vespers sung in the office for the dead.First known use 13th c.

   There the placebo, the office for the dead, was sung, and a vigil kept throughout the night.

   2011, Thomas Penn, Winter King, Penguin, published 2012, page 349

In a sentence

The acid test, I thought, was whether homeopathic remedies behave differently from placebos when submitted to clinical trials.

2010 February 22, Edzard Ernst, “No to homeopathy placebo”, in The Guardian

Where it comes from

1. Latinplacēbō“I will please”
2. Middle Englishplacebo
3. Englishplacebo

Inherited from Middle English placebo, borrowed from Latin placēbō (“I will please”), the first-person singular future active indicative of placeō (“to please”).

First known use: 18th c.