Snake Oil (Noun)
Meaning 1
(medicine) any of various liquids sold as medicine (as by a travelling medicine show) but medically worthless.
Classification
Nouns denoting substances.
Examples
- The quack doctor peddled his snake oil as a cure-all for every ailment under the sun.
- Many of the health supplements on the market are essentially snake oil, preying on people's desperation for a quick fix.
- The salesman's enthusiastic pitch for his "miracle elixir" was just a classic example of snake oil salesmanship.
- Critics of the new energy drink claim it's just snake oil, offering no actual benefits to the consumer.
- The 19th-century medicine show was notorious for selling snake oil to unsuspecting townspeople.
Meaning 2
Communication (written or spoken) intended to deceive.
Classification
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents.
Examples
- The politician's promises of a utopian future were dismissed as snake oil by his opponents, who claimed he had no intention of following through.
- The company's advertising campaign was accused of being snake oil, making exaggerated claims about the benefits of their product.
- The self-help guru's books were filled with snake oil, promising readers they could achieve success and happiness with minimal effort.
- The salesperson's smooth talk was just snake oil, trying to convince the customer to buy a product they didn't need.
- The company's press release was seen as snake oil, downplaying the severity of the environmental disaster they had caused.