placebo

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pla·ce·bo / pləˈsēbō/ • n. (pl. -bos) a harmless pill, medicine, or procedure prescribed more for the psychological benefit to the patient than for any physiological effect: his Aunt Beatrice had been kept alive on sympathy and placebos for thirty years | [as adj.] placebo drugs. ∎  a substance that has no therapeutic effect, used as a control in testing new drugs. ∎ fig. a measure designed merely to calm or please someone.

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