1. plural of placebo; inactive substances given to patients in medical studies or treatments, often to test the effectiveness of real medications
Usage: medical

Examples

• The researchers gave placebos to half the participants in the drug trial.
• Some patients showed improvement even when taking placebos instead of real medicine.
• The study compared the new medication against placebos to measure its effectiveness.
• Doctors sometimes prescribe placebos when they believe a patient’s symptoms are psychological.
• The control group received placebos while the test group got the actual treatment.
• Placebos are essential tools in double-blind medical studies.