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

See Examples For:

bread and circuses

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

Instead, at the end of the day, as the world spins out of control, people want bread and circuses to keep them from contemplating the horrors that we ourselves have created.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2023

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

From Washington Post ● Nov. 4, 2022

But you are certainly not the only person who, when blessed with a larger paycheck, chooses not to spend it all on high-end bread and circuses.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2021

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 Scott Nearing