placebo

noun, plural pla·ce·bos, pla·ce·boes.

1. Medicine/Medical, Pharmacology.
   1. a substance having no pharmacological effect but given merely to satisfy a patient who supposes it to be a medicine.
   2. a substance having no pharmacological effect but administered as a control in testing experimentally or clinically the efficacy of a biologically active preparation.
2. Roman Catholic Church. the vespers of the office for the dead: so called from the initial word of the first antiphon, taken from Psalm 114:9 of the Vulgate.

noun plural -bos or -boes

1. med an inactive substance or other sham form of therapy administered to a patient usually to compare its effects with those of a real drug or treatment, but sometimes for the psychological benefit to the patient through his believing he is receiving treatmentSee also control group, placebo effect
2. something said or done to please or humour another
3. RC Church a traditional name for the vespers of the office for the dead

n.early 13c., name given to the rite of Vespers of the Office of the Dead, so called from the opening of the first antiphon, “I will please the Lord in the land of the living” (Psalm cxiv:9), from Latin placebo “I shall please,” future indicative of placere “to please” (see please). Medical sense is first recorded 1785, “a medicine given more to please than to benefit the patient.” Placebo effect attested from 1950. n. pl. pla•ce•bos

1. A substance containing no medication and prescribed or given to reinforce a patient’s expectation to get well.
2. An inactive substance or preparation used as a control in an experiment or test to determine the effectiveness of a medicinal drug.

1. A substance containing no medication and prescribed to reinforce a patient’s expectation of getting well or used as a control in a clinical research trial to determine the effectiveness of a potential new drug.

A substance containing no active drug, administered to a patient participating in a medical experiment as a control.