Standard Lemma guide

nocebo

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: nōsē′bō
  • Received-Pronunciation: /nəʊˈsiː.bəʊ/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: nōsē′bō
  • General-American: /noʊˈsi.boʊ/
  • rhymes with -iːbəʊ

1

noun

Meaning 1

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: also, attributive

Topics: medicine, pharmacology, sciences

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

20 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Albanian: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Czech: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Danish: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Dutch: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Finnish: nosebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Galician: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • German: Nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Indonesian: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Italian: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Korean: 노시보 (nosibo) — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Macedonian: ноцебо (nocebo) — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Norwegian: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Polish: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Portuguese: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Russian: ноцебо (nocebo) — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Spanish: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Swedish: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Turkish: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Ukrainian: ноцебо (nocebo) — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful
  • Vietnamese: nocebo — a pharmacologically inactive substance experienced as harmful