How to Use placebo effect in a Sentence

placebo effect

noun
  • But still, five pounds is enough room for some kind of placebo effect.
    — Erik Vance, Slate Magazine, 13 July 2017
  • Knoepfler warned of placebo effects.
    — Dhruv Khullar, New Yorker, 6 Apr. 2026
  • With that said, there’s nothing wrong with the placebo effect.
    — Carolyn L. Todd, SELF, 7 May 2019
  • Are some people more prone to placebo effects?
    — Daryl Austin, USA Today, 18 June 2026
  • Even surgery isn’t immune to the placebo effect.
    — Phil Starks, The Conversation, 21 Apr. 2026
  • Others say that any pain relief is due to the placebo effect.
    — Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, 30 Dec. 2019
  • And the good ol’ placebo effect may dictate a good amount of what happens.
    — Sarah Jacoby, SELF, 25 Mar. 2019
  • Chalk it up to a placebo effect — or maybe this stuff is just that good — but our tester is no longer a skeptic.
    — Allure, 6 Oct. 2017
  • The placebo effect may work wonders.
    — Hannah Kerman, STAT, 29 Apr. 2026
  • In other words, never count out the placebo effect, even during times of war.
    — Mack Degeurin, Popular Science, 20 Mar. 2025
  • Chess students may do better in school because of a placebo effect.
    — Sue Shellenbarger, WSJ, 24 Dec. 2018
  • The drinks could be popular due to the placebo effect, experts said.
    — Maggie O'Neill, Verywell Health, 9 Aug. 2024
  • The placebo effect isn’t magic.
    — Phil Starks, The Conversation, 21 Apr. 2026
  • The placebo effect is often celebrated as proof that the mind can heal the body.
    — Phil Starks, The Conversation, 21 Apr. 2026
  • Often these are harmless, and sometimes there’s even a placebo effect.
    — Christine Byrne, Outside Online, 9 Sep. 2019
  • And the stronger your anticipation is, the stronger the placebo effect will be.
    — Elizabeth Lopatto, The Verge, 13 Jan. 2021
  • Confidence and the placebo effect likely do much of the heavy lifting.
    — Lauren Jarvis-Gibson, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 22 June 2026
  • After a while, however, placebo effects tend to fade.
    — Bryant Stamford, Louisville Courier Journal, 11 Dec. 2025
  • On the other hand, the placebo effect presumably doesn’t exist in rats.
    — Scott Douglas, Outside Online, 5 Feb. 2020
  • But research on the placebo effect suggests that even snake oil can have benefits for those who believe.
    — Markham Heid, Time, 5 Oct. 2017
  • If that interpretation is correct, the placebo effect is not a trick of the mind.
    — Phil Starks, The Conversation, 21 Apr. 2026
  • To some, the treatment is considered somewhat of a placebo effect.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 27 Oct. 2022
  • Yet every doctor knows the placebo effect is real; the mind can change what’s happening in the body.
    — Mary Hadar, Washington Post, 6 Mar. 2020
  • Experts say there’s no evidence to support this, but the placebo effect is real.
    — Stephanie Brown, Verywell Health, 10 Jan. 2024
  • There was no control group, so the improvement could have been due to the placebo effect or, more likely, the passage of time.
    — Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 2 Jan. 2010
  • The placebo is real That doesn't mean that the placebo effect isn't happening here.
    — Kevin Purdy, Ars Technica, 26 Sep. 2023
  • Much or all of the encouraging hints seen so far in people may be the result of the placebo effect, skeptics say.
    — Gunjan Sinha, Science | AAAS, 17 Sep. 2020
  • For those desperate to recharge while stuck at home, these Goop-esque promises might at least have a placebo effect.
    — Flora Tsapovsky, Wired, 22 June 2020
  • The placebo effect might explain this finding, Martin says.
    — Lori Youmshajekian, Scientific American, 19 Nov. 2025
  • While many of the accoutrements of wellness can feel fun to own and use, much of it has been a placebo effect in my experience.
    — Tasnim Ahmed, Allure, 9 Aug. 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'placebo effect.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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