PLACEBO (placeboes)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: placeboes   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does placebo mean? 

• PLACEBO (noun)
  The noun PLACEBO has 2 senses:

1. an innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug

2. (Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead

  Familiarity information: PLACEBO used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PLACEBO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An innocuous or inert medication; given as a pacifier or to the control group in experiments on the efficacy of a drug

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("placebo" is a kind of...):

medicament; medication; medicinal drug; medicine ((medicine) something that treats or prevents or alleviates the symptoms of disease)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "placebo"):

active placebo (a placebo used in experimental tests of a drug that has noticeable side effects)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(Roman Catholic Church) vespers of the office for the dead

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("placebo" is a kind of...):

vesper (a late afternoon or evening worship service)

Domain category:

Church of Rome; Roman Catholic; Roman Catholic Church; Roman Church; Western Church (the Christian Church based in the Vatican and presided over by a pope and an episcopal hierarchy)

 Context examples 

Sepsis or death occurred in nine per cent of the placebo group and in just 5.4 per cent of the synbiotic group, showing a reduction of 40 per cent.

(Friendly gut bacteria can help fight infant deaths, SciDev.Net )

Participants received either testosterone gel or placebo gel.

(Hormone treatment studied in older men, NIH)

In the aspirin group, 448 people experienced cardiovascular events, compared with 474 people in the placebo group.

(Daily low-dose aspirin found to have no effect on healthy life span in older people, National Institutes of Health)

At the end of the study, 293 out of 1211 participants (24.2%) in the vitamin D group developed diabetes compared to 323 out of 1212 (26.7%) in the placebo group – a difference that did not reach statistical significance.

(Vitamin D does not prevent type 2 diabetes in people at high risk, National Institutes of Health)

At 600 IUs, arterial stiffness actually increased slightly — .1 percent — and the placebo group experienced a 2.3 percent increase in arterial stiffness over the timeframe.

(High Doses of Vitamin D Rapidly Reduce Arterial Stiffness, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

In the first stage, they were given an inactive placebo for 2 weeks before being exposed to filtered air for 2 hours.

(Combatting epigenetic effects from outdoor air pollution, NIH)

The comparison group receives a placebo, another treatment, or no treatment at all.

(Controlled clinical trial, NCI Dictionary)

The effects of the active drug or treatment are compared to the effects of the placebo.

(Placebo, NCI Dictionary)

Refers to a clinical study in which the control patients receive a placebo.

(Placebo Control, NCI Dictionary)

Participants were randomly assigned to receive omalizumab or placebo injections for the first 16 weeks of the study.

(Omalizumab improves efficacy of oral immunotherapy for multiple food allergies, National Institutes of Health)