bread and circuses

American  

noun

1. something, as extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention from a source of grievance.

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bread and circuses Cultural  

1. A phrase used by a Roman writer to deplore the declining heroism of Romans after the Roman Republic ceased to exist and the Roman Empire began: “Two things only the people anxiously desire — bread and circuses.” The government kept the Roman populace happy by distributing free food and staging huge spectacles. (See Colosseum.)

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Discover More

“Bread and circuses” has become a convenient general term for government policies that seek short-term solutions to public unrest.

Etymology

Origin of bread and circuses

1910–15; translation of Latin pānis et circēnsēs; from a remark by the Roman satirist Juvenal on the limited desires of the Roman populace

Example Sentences

My second takeaway is that bread and circuses — the Roman phrase for distracting the populace with spectacle — was in full force.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 19, 2024

We demand, if not bread and circuses, then true American camp—a racoon-and-toy-pony show, a hunt for treasure, and White House officials dragged up to entertain our children.

From Salon • Apr. 9, 2023

We might ask our governments to aim for more than mere bread and circuses, though.

From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2022

“Give them food and cake and they won’t revolt?” she said, paraphrasing the ancient saying about bread and circuses.

From New York Times • Feb. 13, 2022

Empires have been made possible by "bread and circuses"; by appealing to an abnormally developed sense of patriotism; by the rule of might where largess and cajolery have failed.

From The American Empire by Nearing, Scott