Placebo (Noun)
Meaning 1
(Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead.
Classification
Nouns denoting acts or actions.
Meaning 2
An innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug.
Classification
Nouns denoting man-made objects.
Examples
- The researchers gave a placebo to half of the participants in the study to compare the results with those who received the actual medication.
- The doctor prescribed a placebo to the anxious patient to calm her down, knowing that the actual cause of her symptoms was stress.
- In the clinical trial, the control group received a placebo while the treatment group received the new experimental drug.
- The pharmaceutical company used a placebo in their study to determine if the new pain reliever was truly effective or just a psychological response.
- The patients who received the placebo reported a significant reduction in symptoms, highlighting the power of the mind in healing.