panacea

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(păn'ə-sē'ə) pronunciation
n.
A remedy for all diseases, evils, or difficulties; a cure-all.

[Latin panacēa, from Greek panakeia, from panakēs, all-healing : pan-, pan- + akos, cure.]

panacean pan'a·ce'an adj.


from Greek words meaning 'all-healing', denotes not just a remedy but a universal remedy and is therefore not appropriate in the context of particular illnesses, e.g. a panacea for measles. It is most commonly used in negative or ironic ways and in social rather than medical contexts:
Many in the academic sector remain sceptical about whether employer-led higher education is the panacea some believe it to be—Times Higher Education Supplement, 2006.

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Some antidote or remedy that completely solves a problem. Most so-called panaceas in this industry, if they survive at all, wind up sitting alongside and working with the products they were supposed to replace. In addition, nothing solves a problem without introducing its own new set of problems. See Systemantics.

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noun

    Something believed to cure all human disorders: catholicon, cure-all. See help/harm/harmless.

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panacea

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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: A remedy or medicine proposed for or professing to cure all diseases.

pronunciation Change is an easy panacea. It takes character to stay in one place and be happy there. — Elizabeth C. Dunn.

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A remedy for all diseases.

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categories related to 'panacea'

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Random House Word Menu by Stephen Glazier
For a list of words related to panacea, see:

  See crossword solutions for the clue Panacea.
Greek deities
series
Primordial deities
Titans and Olympians
Aquatic deities
Chthonic deities
Personified concepts
Other deities
Panacea (center) administering medicine to a baby (Picture of the Veronese physician J. Gazola as part of a larger woodcut, 1716)

In Greek mythology, Panacea (Greek Πανάκεια, Panakeia) was a goddess of Universal remedy. She was the daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Panacea and her five sisters each performed a facet of Apollo's art: Panacea (the goddess of Universal remedy), Hygieia ("Hygiene" the goddess/personification of health, cleanliness, and sanitation ), Iaso (the goddess of recuperation from illness), Aceso (the goddess of the healing process), and Aglæa/Ægle (the goddess of beauty, splendor, glory, magnificence, and adornment).

Panacea also had four brothers – Podaleirus, one of the two kings of Tricca, who had a flair for diagnostics, and Machaon, the other king of Tricca, who was a master surgeon (these two took part in the Trojan War until Machaon was killed by Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons); Telesphoros, who devoted his life to serving Asclepius; and Aratus, her stepbrother, who was a Greek hero and the patron/liberator of Sicyon.

Panacea was said to have a poultice or potion with which she healed the sick. This brought about the concept of the panacea in medicine, a substance meant to cure all diseases. The term is also used figuratively as something intended to completely solve a large, multi-faceted problem.

A river in Thrace/Moesia was named after the goddess, and is still known as the river Panega (from Greek panakeia).

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - universalmiddel, patentmiddel

Nederlands (Dutch)
panacee

Français (French)
n. - panacée

Deutsch (German)
n. - Allheilmittel

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - πανάκεια, γιατρικό για όλες τις αρρώστιες

Italiano (Italian)
panacea

Português (Portuguese)
n. - panacéia (f)

Русский (Russian)
панацея

Español (Spanish)
n. - panacea

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - universalmedel, patentlösning

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
万能药

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 萬靈藥

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 만병통치약

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 万能薬

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) الدواء العام‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תרופת מרפאת-כל‬


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Dunn, Elizabeth C. (Quotes By)