nostrum

UK/ˈnɒs.tɹəm//ˈnɑ.stɹəm/

nostrum noun: a medicine or remedy in conventional use which has not been proven to have any desirable medical effects.

Noun

nostrum (plural nostrums or nostra)

A medicine or remedy in conventional use which has not been proven to have any desirable medical effects.
- Near-synonyms: paternoster, patent medicine, snake oil
- Nay, he would sometimes retire hither to take his beer, and it was not without difficulty that he was prevented from forcing Jones to take his beer too: for no quack ever held his nostrum to be a more general panacea than he did this; which, he said, had more virtue in it than was in all the physic...1749, Henry Fielding, chapter II, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book V
Synonyms:

nostrum remedium, paternoster, patent medicine, snake oil
(broadly) An ineffective but favorite remedy for a problem, usually involving political action.
- reformers of church charities [...made] known […] their different nostrums for setting Hiram's Hospital on its feet again.1857, Anthony Trollope, Barchester Towers
- And not because some clatch of bureaucrats in Strasbourg or Luxembourg have issued yet another directive, but because Europeans are recognising that 19th century nostrums are not solutions to 21st century problems—on the contrary, they are the problem—and it's time to encourage competition, risk...1996, Louis Rossetto, “19th Century Nostrums are not Solutions to 21st Century Problems”, in Mute, volume 1, number 4, →ISSN

கைமருந்து

عطائی دوا, لٹکا, ٹوٹکا

টোটকা, হাতুড়ে ওষুধ, রাজনৈতিক ও সামাজিক সংস্কারপরিকল্পনা

potion, medicine, quackremedy: ഗുപ്തൗഷധം, ഒറ്റമൂലി, ദിവ്യൗഷധം, സർവ്വരോഗസംഹാരി, സർവ്വരോഗനിവാരിണി, ജീവന്തം
remedy, magic formula, recipe for success: പ്രത്യുപായം, പ്രതിവിധി, മൂലമന്ത്രം, മാന്ത്രികപ്രതിവിധി, സൂത്രവാക്യം, ഫലപ്രദമായ പ്രതിവിധി

In precisely the same way does a quack doctor prescribe his infallible nostrum to every patient, without taking into account differences of constitution, or [...]1833, James Rennie, “The Word Gardening”, in Alphabet of Scientific Gardening for the Use of Beginners, London: William Orr, page 2:
Many nostrums and traditional medicaments are mentioned throughout Greek literature as aphrodisiac stimulants.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 165:
The latest nutraceutical nostrum could come from the blueberry.2004 August 25, “Find your thrill on blueberry hill”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The Guardian, London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC:
After each day's work in the fields, Brown was given some nostrum and made to repeat the ordeal.2008, Harriet A. Washington, “Profitable Wonders”, in Medical Apartheid, Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, page 53:

plural	nostrums
plural	nostra

Learned borrowing from Latin nostrum (“ours”), nominative neuter of noster (“our, ours”).

What does nostrum mean?: Nostrum means a medicine or remedy in conventional use which has not been proven to have any desirable medical effects.
What is nostrum in Tamil?: Nostrum in Tamil is கைமருந்து. See Nostrum meaning in Tamil.
How do you use nostrum in a sentence?: In precisely the same way does a quack doctor prescribe his infallible nostrum to every patient, without taking into account differences of constitution, or [...]
What part of speech is nostrum?: Nostrum is a noun.
How do you pronounce nostrum?: Nostrum is pronounced /ˈnɒs.tɹəm/ (UK).
What is the plural of nostrum?: The plural of nostrum is nostrums.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-nostrum.ogg.

Cite this entry: “nostrum.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/nostrum. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.