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

They’re capitalist endeavors, not charity cases, whose stated mission is to provide bread and circuses to the masses while making as much profit as possible in the process.

From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 21, 2025

Then again, it's pretty easy to pull off this feat in a society sated only by bread and circuses.

From Salon • Jan. 11, 2023

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

From Washington Post • Nov. 4, 2022

It’s almost like saying, you can do anything you want as long as you give bread and circuses to the people.

From Slate • Dec. 14, 2018

Cannons and colour, bands and decorations, bread and circuses, emperors uncovering to us, beautiful queens waving dainty handkerchiefs—this is what lies behind the dry Treaties of the history books.

From Without Prejudice by Zangwill, Israel