snake oil
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snake oil
noun
- A fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum; panacea.
- A traditional Chinese medicine used to treat joint pain.
- A type of 19th-century patent medicine sold in the United States that claimed to contain snake fat, supposedly a Native American remedy for various ailments.
- Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality. As for the IRP, Secretary of State Grant Shapps continues to peddle snake oil, smoke and mirrors. His reaction to near-universal IRP condemnation from politicians, local and national media, and all but a few rail specialists was to dismiss the lot of us (in the condescending and patronising tone we
Translations
Every language
noun fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum
| Português | pó de perlimpimpim |
|---|---|
| Français | poudre de perlimpinpin |
| Deutsch | Quacksalberprodukt |
noun traditional Chinese medicine
| Español | aceite serpentino |
|---|
Talk about this word "snake oil." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/snake%20oil. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. snake oil. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/snake%20oil "snake oil." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/snake%20oil.
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@misc{snake_oil_2026,
title = {snake oil},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/snake%20oil},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
