View synonyms for snake oil

snake oil

noun

any of various liquid concoctions of questionable medical value sold as an all-purpose curative, especially by traveling hucksters.
Slang. deceptive talk or actions; hooey; bunkum:
The governor promised to lower taxes, but it was the same old snake oil.

An Americanism dating back to 1925–30

see under banana oil .

Here the snake oil quotient is a bit more evident than in the skybox seats occupied by insights made using hard science.

Which of these foods have science to back them up, and which are nothing but snake oil?

Americans get riled up about creationists and climate change deniers, but lap up the quasi-religious snake oil at Whole Foods.

Beware, too, of the snake-oil salesmen who promise permanently sharp knives.

Americans need protection from these snake-oil salesmen, and that protection depends almost entirely on Congress and the media.

April 19, 2024tortuous

[tawr-choo-uhs ]

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

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