nostrum

[ nos-truhm ]

noun

1. a medicine sold with false or exaggerated claims and with no demonstrable value; quack medicine.
2. a pet scheme or remedy, especially for social or political ills; panacea:

   The party was pushing the nostrum of corporate tax reduction, as if that would undo decades of industrial job loss.

3. a medicine made by the person who recommends it.
4. a patent medicine.

nostrum

/ ˈnɒstrəm /

noun

1. a patent or quack medicine
2. a favourite remedy, as for political or social problems

Word History and Origins

Origin of nostrum¹

First recorded in 1595–1605; from Latin: literally, “our, ours” (neuter singular of noster ), with a noun such as remedium “remedy, cure” being understood; referring to the seller's calling the drug “our” drug

Word History and Origins

Origin of nostrum¹

C17: from Latin: our own (make), from noster our

Example Sentences

The nostrum of a two-state solution for the small tormented land of Palestine is more and more flimsy, but organizations like J Street and a large majority of elected Democrats refuse to concede that it has been made nonsensical by Israel’s ever-expanding settlements and escalating Jewish nationalism comfortable with inflicting genocide on Palestinian people.

From Salon

The nostrum of a two-state solution for the small, tormented land of Palestine is more and more flimsy, but organizations like J Street and most elected Democrats refuse to concede that it has been made nonsensical.

From Salon

And despite the media’s repeated nostrum that only people with high school educations favored Trump, The New York Times reported that same weekend that 60% of college-educated Republicans also supported him.

From Salon

He dug out a small satchel labeled The Nostrum Nook's Sleepy Time Powder and stepped closer to them.

From Literature

"There is a cry of pain that resonates most of all, and it is turning the Mediterranean, the 'mare nostrum', from the cradle of civilization into the 'mare mortuum', the graveyard of dignity: it is the stifled cry of migrant brothers and sisters," he said, using Latin terms meaning "our sea" and "sea of death".

From BBC