Panacea

Pronunciation

• RP enPR: păn"É™-sÄ“'É™, IPA: /ËŒpæn.əˈsiː.É™/
• Rhymes: -iÉ™

Origin

From Latin panacēa, from Ancient Greek πανάκεια, from πανακής (panakēs, "all-healing"), from πᾶν (pan, "all") (equivalent to English pan-) + ἄκος (akos, "cure").

Full definition of panacea

Noun

1. A remedy believed to cure all disease and prolong life that was originally sought by alchemists; a cure-all.
2. Something that will solve all problems.A monorail will be a panacea for our traffic woes.
3. (obsolete) A particular plant believed to provide a cure-all.
• 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.v:There, whether it diuine Tobacco were,
  Or Panachæa, or Polygony,
  She found, and brought it to her patient deare ....

Synonyms

• (remedy to cure all disease) catholicon, cure-all
• (plant) allheal, woundwort