(~s)
1.
You can refer to ideas or theories about how something should be done as ~s, especially when you think they are old-fashioned or wrong in some way. (FORMAL)
...yesterday’s failed socialist ~s.
N-COUNT: usu pl, oft N of n
2.
If you refer to a medicine as a ~, you mean that it is not effective or has not been tested in a proper scientific way.
...pills, tablets, and other ~s claiming to be magic potions.
N-COUNT