MAIN ENTRY: pan·a·cea

PRONUNCIATION: \ˌpa-nə-ˈsē-ə\

FUNCTION: noun

ETYMOLOGY: (ca. 1548) From Latin panacea, an all-healing herb (variously identified), from Greek panakeia (“cure-all”), from panakes (“all-healing”), from pan- (“all”) + akos (“cure”) from iasthai (“to heal”). Earlier in English as panace (1510s)

DEFINITION

a remedy for all ills or difficulties, or cure-all

SYNONYMS

catholicon, elixir, nostrum, cure–all, theriac

USAGE

Plenty of fervent believers still insist on prayer being the only panacea to any terminal illness.

QUOTABLE QUOTE

“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.”

—Ernest Hemingway