Word
placebo
Meanings
A fake or inactive treatment used in experiments to test the real effect of a drug or procedure.
A harmless pill or procedure that can make someone feel better because they believe it will help.
Definition
A placebo is a harmless treatment given as a control in research or to produce a psychological benefit.
A placebo is something that looks like a real medicine or treatment but has no active ingredient or direct medical effect. It is often used in scientific studies to compare results with a real drug. Sometimes people still feel better after taking it because they expect improvement, which is called the placebo effect.
Examples
- The study compared the new drug with a placebo.
- Some patients reported less pain after taking a placebo.
- She improved even though she was given a placebo.
- The researchers used a placebo to keep the trial fair.
Common mistake
Learners sometimes use placebo as an adjective (e.g., "placebo pill" is fine, but "the pill is placebo" should be "the pill is a placebo").
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