bread and circuses

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See synonyms for bread and circuses on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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On the farm, the feed for chicks is significantly different from the roosters’; ______ not even comparable.

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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

Words nearby bread and circuses

bread, bread and butter, bread-and-butter letter, bread-and-butter model, bread-and-butter pickle, bread and circuses, bread and honey, breadbasket, breadboard, breadbox, breadcrumb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use bread and circuses in a sentence

As an example of good science-and-society policymaking, the history of fluoride may be more of a cautionary tale.
Anti-Fluoriders Are The OG Anti-Vaxxers|Michael Schulson|July 27, 2016|DAILY BEAST
As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Yes, Byrd—dead four-and-a-half years now—was a Kleagle in the Ku Klux Klan.
Steve Scalise and the Right’s Ridiculous Racial Blame Game|Michael Tomasky|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
The tasteless bread was transformed into a sweet cake that included ingredients, such as dried fruit and marzipan.
One Cake to Rule Them All: How Stollen Stole Our Hearts|Molly Hannon|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Later that night, that same black-and-red banner would be seen again—in the column of marchers chanting for dead cops.
The Monsters Who Screamed for Dead Cops|Jacob Siegel|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She also practises etching, pen-and-ink drawing, as well as crayon and water-color sketching.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
I tell you, madam, most distinctly and emphatically, that it is bread pudding and the meanest kind at that.'
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun;|Various
No law of that country must exceed in words the number of letters in their alphabet, which consists only in two-and-twenty.
Gulliver's Travels|Jonathan Swift
In Tiefurt we partook of a magnificent collation consisting of a mug of beer, brown bread and sausage!
Music-Study in Germany|Amy Fay
Newhall Street, and a new thoroughfare made in continuation of Bread Street.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell

Cultural definitions for bread and circuses

bread and circuses

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.)

notes for bread and circuses

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