snake oil
7
8.0
- noun
- /ˈsneɪk ˌɔɪl/
- Informal
:
pócima
- The advertisement promised miraculous results, but it turned out to be nothing more than snake oil.
- sell snake oil
How did legitimate shark science become snake oil?
- How did legitimate shark science become snake oil?
- While the Bernie Sanders of this world are offering them snake oil that can only make matters worse.
- He there's a lot of people that are kind of selling quantum snake oil.
- You know, what's the latest snake oil weight loss cure we've seen a time and time again.
- And you know, what should we be looking at with optimism about what algorithms can do for us where it's not just hype and snake oil?
- So as a layperson, it can be very difficult to tell if the claims an AI booster are making are the real deal or if it's simply snake oil.
- He's like an old timey traveling snake oil salesman who made it full circle back to the Prairie town where he started.
- They would be having snake oil being sold to them.
- So Tim says, well, I'll try it downs this big thing of snake oil.
- And every single time I would rather have the snake than the snake oil.
Examples
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If it looks like snake oil and it smells like snake oil, it's snake oil.
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Right here is a perfect example of T-Mobile's slick snake oil speak.
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But I also believe that if somebody is selling snake oil, that we, we should make the world aware of that.
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The fact is, small businesses are being sold a lot of social media snake oil.
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Who knows which is snake oil and which is a true medicine?
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Shysters selling snake oil on the internet drive me crazy.
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Folks, it's time we looked at the hype and realized we were sold snake oil.
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There was no snake oil involved in Jessica's answer, contrary to what has been said.
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The general public doesn't seem to be able to differentiate proper SEO from the snake oil.
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We've heard the spiel before, so unless you have something new to add, peddle that snake oil elsewhere.
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Synonyms
294
3.0
A dishonest plan to get money by tricking people
12
9.1
False talk or behavior meant to trick people
11
9.3
False medical treatments or advice given by people pretending to be doctors
7
7.4
False or weak claims presented as based on careful study to mislead people
2
9.9
A medicine or simple idea sold as a cure that does not work
1
9.6
Talk that tries to trick people with false statements
Words or actions that try to trick people into thinking things are better than they are
How Deceptive
- NSFW
294
3.0
- Informal
7
8.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
snake + oil
There is a recognisable link between the parts — 'snake' can metaphorically signal deceit and 'oil' suggests a product — so a learner who knows those senses might infer ‘a deceptive product’. However, the idiomatic sense as a general label for quack remedies or fraudulent claims depends on cultural/historical knowledge and is not fully predictable from the constituents alone, so it is not fully transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
The noun snake oil comes from 1800s travelling salesmen who went from town to town selling bottles they said were made from snakes and oil and would cure many health problems. That strong image of a fake cure is why snake oil now means 'a product or claim that is worthless or meant to deceive'.