snake oil
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.18 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
1
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
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.
Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "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 have now come to expect) as "critics and naysayers"."
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Medicine.