"snake oil" meaning in English

See snake oil in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Audio: En-au-snake oil.ogg [Australia]
Head templates: {{en-noun|-}} snake oil (uncountable)
  1. (idiomatic) A fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum; panacea. Tags: idiomatic, uncountable Translations (fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum): kvaksalverprodukt [neuter] (Danish), huijauslääke (Finnish), poudre de perlimpinpin [feminine] (French), Quacksalberprodukt [neuter] (German), olej z węża [inanimate, masculine] (Polish), pó de perlimpimpim [masculine] (Portuguese)
    Sense id: en-snake_oil-en-noun-BAjonncX Disambiguation of 'fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum': 90 2 7 1
  2. A traditional Chinese medicine used to treat joint pain. Tags: uncountable Translations (traditional Chinese medicine): käärmeöljy (Finnish), olej z węża [inanimate, masculine] (Polish), aceite serpentino [masculine] (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-snake_oil-en-noun-yAo-53gQ Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Medicine Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 1 40 48 10 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 2 54 33 11 Disambiguation of Medicine: 9 50 41 0 Disambiguation of 'traditional Chinese medicine': 1 82 13 4
  3. 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. Tags: uncountable Derived forms: snake oil salesman Related terms: quackery
    Sense id: en-snake_oil-en-noun-v7HmbL5F Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Danish translations, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with French translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations, Terms with Portuguese translations, Terms with Spanish translations, Lying, Medicine, Pharmacy Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 1 40 48 10 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 1 39 51 8 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 1 37 53 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Danish translations: 2 25 65 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 4 32 54 10 Disambiguation of Terms with French translations: 3 31 57 10 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 4 32 56 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 4 31 55 10 Disambiguation of Terms with Portuguese translations: 2 21 70 6 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 2 34 57 8 Disambiguation of Lying: 14 30 44 13 Disambiguation of Medicine: 9 50 41 0 Disambiguation of Pharmacy: 15 28 42 15
  4. (idiomatic) Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality. Tags: idiomatic, uncountable
    Sense id: en-snake_oil-en-noun-zEB4lJvX
{
  "head_templates": [
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      "args": {
        "1": "-"
      },
      "expansion": "snake oil (uncountable)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "glosses": [
        "A fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum; panacea."
      ],
      "id": "en-snake_oil-en-noun-BAjonncX",
      "links": [
        [
          "fraudulent",
          "fraudulent"
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          "ineffective"
        ],
        [
          "potion",
          "potion"
        ],
        [
          "nostrum",
          "nostrum"
        ],
        [
          "panacea",
          "panacea"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) A fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum; panacea."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "90 2 7 1",
          "code": "da",
          "lang": "Danish",
          "lang_code": "da",
          "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "kvaksalverprodukt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "90 2 7 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
          "word": "huijauslääke"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "90 2 7 1",
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "poudre de perlimpinpin"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "90 2 7 1",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "Quacksalberprodukt"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "90 2 7 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
          "tags": [
            "inanimate",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "olej z węża"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "90 2 7 1",
          "code": "pt",
          "lang": "Portuguese",
          "lang_code": "pt",
          "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "pó de perlimpimpim"
        }
      ]
    },
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      "glosses": [
        "A traditional Chinese medicine used to treat joint pain."
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      "id": "en-snake_oil-en-noun-yAo-53gQ",
      "links": [
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          "medicine",
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          "joint",
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      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "1 82 13 4",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "traditional Chinese medicine",
          "word": "käärmeöljy"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 82 13 4",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "traditional Chinese medicine",
          "tags": [
            "inanimate",
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "olej z węża"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "1 82 13 4",
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "traditional Chinese medicine",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "aceite serpentino"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
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          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "14 30 44 13",
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Lying",
          "orig": "en:Lying",
          "parents": [],
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      "derived": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100 0",
          "word": "snake oil salesman"
        }
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        "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."
      ],
      "id": "en-snake_oil-en-noun-v7HmbL5F",
      "links": [
        [
          "patent medicine",
          "patent medicine"
        ],
        [
          "United States",
          "United States"
        ],
        [
          "snake",
          "snake"
        ],
        [
          "fat",
          "fat"
        ],
        [
          "Native American",
          "Native American"
        ],
        [
          "ailments",
          "ailment"
        ]
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100 0",
          "word": "quackery"
        }
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      "tags": [
        "uncountable"
      ]
    },
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      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              68,
              77
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          ],
          "ref": "2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:",
          "text": "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\".",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality."
      ],
      "id": "en-snake_oil-en-noun-zEB4lJvX",
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          "exaggerated",
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          "marketing",
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          "questionable"
        ],
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          "unverifiable",
          "unverifiable"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-snake oil.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/5/5c/En-au-snake_oil.ogg/En-au-snake_oil.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/En-au-snake_oil.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
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  "word": "snake oil"
}
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    "Terms with Finnish translations",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        "English idioms"
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      "glosses": [
        "A fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum; panacea."
      ],
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        "(idiomatic) A fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum; panacea."
      ],
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        "A traditional Chinese medicine used to treat joint pain."
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          "ref": "2022 January 12, Nigel Harris, “Comment: Unhappy start to 2022”, in RAIL, number 948, page 3:",
          "text": "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\".",
          "type": "quotation"
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        "Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality."
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        "(idiomatic) Any product with exaggerated marketing but questionable or unverifiable quality."
      ],
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      "tags": [
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  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "da",
      "lang": "Danish",
      "lang_code": "da",
      "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "kvaksalverprodukt"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
      "word": "huijauslääke"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "poudre de perlimpinpin"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "Quacksalberprodukt"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
      "tags": [
        "inanimate",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "olej z węża"
    },
    {
      "code": "pt",
      "lang": "Portuguese",
      "lang_code": "pt",
      "sense": "fraudulent, ineffective potion or nostrum",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "pó de perlimpimpim"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "traditional Chinese medicine",
      "word": "käärmeöljy"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "traditional Chinese medicine",
      "tags": [
        "inanimate",
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "olej z węża"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "traditional Chinese medicine",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "aceite serpentino"
    }
  ],
  "word": "snake oil"
}

Download raw JSONL data for snake oil meaning in English (4.3kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.