Definition of "nostrum" [nos•trum]

• A medicine whose effectiveness is unproved and whose ingredients are usually secret; a quack remedy. (noun)
• A favorite but usually ineffective remedy for problems or evils. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "At the end of the day, discounting products is nothing more than a short-term nostrum for a problem that is much more severe and will benefit no one in the end if it isn't accompanied by making sure that there were patients to inject these products into."
• "Jail is the conventional and time-honored nostrum, which is administered with a glow of moral self-esteem, and no more thought about it."
• "The nostrum, in fact truism, that countries cannot really devalue their way to prosperity is important to bear in mind."
• "None of this is surprising, though it does dismantle the liberal nostrum that a new entitlement will somehow reduce health spending."
• "May I take this opportunity to wish all NLM readers a very happy and blessed Easter, in the words of the EF Martyrology: Hac die, quam fecit Dominus, Solemnitas solemnitatum, et Pascha nostrum: Resurrectio Salvatoris nostri Jesu Christi secundum carnem."