panacea

/ˌpænəˈsiːə/ (bre, ipa) · /ˌpænəˈsiːə/ (ame, ipa) · /ˌpa-nə-ˈsē-ə/ (ame, mw)

panacea — 名詞

  • panaceasingular
  • panaceasplural

1. an imagined single answer that, on its own, could supposedly solve every difficu

1.名詞C1
釋義

萬能解方

號稱能解決所有問題的方法

an imagined single answer that, on its own, could supposedly solve every difficulty a country, company, or community faces

例句

Adaeze warned that tax cuts are not a panacea for the city's housing shortage.

Adaeze 警告，減稅並不是解決這座城市住房短缺的萬能解方。

pattern: not a panacea for [problem]

The new education law was sold to voters as a panacea, but rural schools still lack teachers.

這部新教育法被當作萬能解方推銷給選民，但鄉村學校仍然缺少老師。

predicative use: sold/seen/treated as a panacea

同義詞
  • cure-all

    more informal; same meaning

  • silver bullet

    informal idiom; emphasises a quick decisive solution

  • magic bullet

    informal; often used in policy debate, similar to silver bullet

文法句型

a panacea for [problem]

用法筆記

Almost always appears in negation or with hedging verbs (is not / is no / cannot be / should not be seen as). Writers use it to push back against an oversimple proposal, so the surrounding sentence usually names the limitation.

常見錯誤

❌This medicine is a panacea for my back pain.
✅This medicine has eased my back pain.
💡sense 1 is about social or political problems, not one person's symptom.
❌There is panacea for poverty.
✅There is no panacea for poverty.
💡the noun is countable; you need an article (a / no / the).

2. a single medicine or treatment that, in old stories or hopeful claims, would hea

2.名詞C2
釋義

萬靈藥

傳說能治好所有疾病的藥

a single medicine or treatment that, in old stories or hopeful claims, would heal every kind of disease in the human body

例句

Medieval alchemists spent their lives searching for a panacea that could cure plague, fever, and old age.

中世紀的鍊金術士窮盡一生，尋找能治好瘟疫、發燒與衰老的萬靈藥。

historical context: alchemists and the search for a panacea

Trang's grandmother kept a bottle of herbal tonic she called her family panacea.

Trang 的祖母收著一瓶草藥酒，稱它是家族的萬靈藥。

folk-medicine usage

同義詞
  • cure-all

    everyday word for the same idea

  • elixir

    literary; suggests a magical liquid medicine

文法句型

a panacea for [diseases]

用法筆記

Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is about the physical body and disease (often historical or skeptical of folk remedies). When the topic is policy or organisations, use sense 1.

常見錯誤

❌Aspirin is a panacea for headaches.
✅Aspirin works well for most headaches.
💡a panacea must claim to cure many illnesses, not one.