nocebo

Meaning

Noun

• A substance which a patient experiences as harmful due to a previous negative perception, but which is in fact pharmacologically (medicinally) inactive.

Origin

• Borrowed from Latin nocēbō ("I will harm"), the first-person singular future tense active voice indicative mood form of noceō, by analogy with placebo. The word was coined by Walter P. Kennedy in a 1961 article entitled “The Nocebo Reaction” (see quotation).