cure for cancer

English

Etymology

From the value such a hypothetical cure would entail; cancer kills about 10 million people annually.

Noun

cure for cancer

  1. (figurative) The ultimate achievement: something that's discovery would entail a great feat, advancement or success; something highly sought-after; a Holy Grail.
    • 2011, Tarang Shah, Shital Shah, quoting Jim Boettcher, Venture Capitalists at Work: How VCs Identify and Build Billion-Dollar Successes, Apress, →ISBN, page 383:
      But if it's a start-up and it doesn't have any revenue, then the value equals P x S [solution] x E [entrepreneurial team], where the P is the magnitude of the problem that the company is going to solve. If it's a cure for cancer, that's huge. If it is a better improvement on a baby diaper, that's not so exciting.

Usage notes

  • Cancer is not a single disease but rather a group of diseases; there are over 100 types of cancers that can affect humans. As such, a hypothetical “cure for cancer” as a whole cannot exist.

See also

  • cure cancer
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