Panacea
//ˌpæn.əˈsiː.ə// name, noun
name, noun ·Moderate ·College level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A remedy believed to cure all disease and prolong life that was originally sought by alchemists; a cure-all.
- 2 hypothetical remedy for all ills or diseases; once sought by the alchemists wordnet
- 3 A solution to all problems.
"A monorail will be a panacea for our traffic woes."
- 4 The plant allheal (Valeriana officinalis), believed to cure all ills. obsolete
"There, whether it diuine Tobacco were, / Or Panachæa, or Polygony, / She found, and brought it to her patient deare […]"
Proper Noun
- 1 The goddess/personification of healing, remedies, cures and panaceas (medicines, salves, ointments and other curatives). She is a daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Greek
Example
More examples"In the Middle Ages, water from the sacred spring was considered a panacea."
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Latin panacēa, from Ancient Greek πανάκεια (panákeia), from πανακής (panakḗs, “all-healing”), from πᾶν (pân, “all”) (equivalent to English pan-) + ἄκος (ákos, “cure”).
Etymology 2
From Ancient Greek Πανακεια (Panakeia, literally “all-curing”).
Related phrases
More for "panacea"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.