Definition of placebo Placebo

/plʌsiˈbow/ - [pluseebow] - pla•ce•bo

We found 9 definitions of placebo from 6 different sources.

What does placebo mean?

WordNet

Noun Plural: placeboes
placebo - (Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead
		vesper a late afternoon or evening worship service
placebo - an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug
		medicament, medicinal drug, medication, medicine the act of treating with medicines or remedies

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= antonym
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Webster DictionaryWebster's Unabridged Dictionary 📘

placebo (n.)
The first antiphon of the vespers for the dead.
placebo (n.)
A prescription intended to humor or satisfy.

OmegaWiki DictionaryOmegaWiki Dictionary Ω

placebo
A preparation which is pharmacologically inert but which may have a medical effect based solely on the power of suggestion.

Chambers DictionaryChamber's 20th Century Dictionary 📕

placebo
plā-sē′bo, n. in the R.C. service of vespers for the dead the name of the first antiphon, which begins with the word: a medicine given to humour or gratify a patient rather than to exercise any curative effect. [L., 'I will please'—placēre, to please.]

Wikipedia

In medicine, the placebo effect basically means that if a person believes that a medicine or diet is good for himself or herself, then it is good for the person.

Definition.

A placebo is a medicine or diet which may have a medical effect based solely on the power of suggestion, an effect known as the "placebo effect" or "placebo response". It may be produced through ingestion, injection, inhalation, insertion into a body cavity, or applied topically.

The term "placebo effect" (as distinct from the more correct term "placebo response") was introduced by T. C. Graves in 1920

Use of placebos in medicine.

Placebos are used to create blind trials. They are not the only technique for this, but are a very common and important one.

Whether or not there is a placebo effect, placebos will remain an important technique for this.

Recent skeptical meta-analysis of placebo effects suggest that the effect does exist, but only in very limited contexts.

Placebos are often seen as posing ethical difficulties. Essentially the issues are of two kinds, neither about placebos alone.

Deceiving participants of experiments, or at least withholding information.

Withholding treatment from patients (or education from students). The tension here is between the greater certainty a controlled experiment will give, versus the prior guesses of people and experts. After all, a person probably wouldn't do an experiment unless he had some reason to hope a treatment worked; but if he does have such grounds, then
band
Placebo is an alternative rock band that started in London in 1994. The band currently has Brian Molko and Stefan Olsdal as members.