panem et circenses

American  

[pah-nem et ser-ken-sayz] / ˌpɑ nɛm ɛt sərˈkɛnˌseɪz /

idiom

1. (in Latin) food and entertainment, or any other simple things patronizingly assumed to be the main interest of the common people, easily exploited as a distraction for political advantage; literally, bread and circuses.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

panem et circenses

Katniss lives in District 12 of Panem — as in panem et circenses, Latin for bread and circuses — a totalitarian state that has risen from the postwar ashes of North America.

From New York Times ● Mar. 22, 2012

They live on "panem et circenses," or City-Hall places and pot-houses, where they have full credit.

From The Dangerous Classes of New York And Twenty Years' Work Among Them by Charles Loring Brace

Of "panem et circenses" we have all heard, and know that eleemosynary bread and the public amusements of the day supplied the material and æsthetic wants of many Romans.

From The Life of Cicero Volume One by Anthony Trollope

On one side: Nero, Petronius, Vinicius, Seneca himself, and a mass harassed only about panem et circenses.

From The Religious Spirit of the Slavs (1916) Sermons On Subjects Suggested By The War, Third Series by Nikolai Velimirović

The vulgar school of panem et circenses only gives people circuses; it does not even tell them how to enjoy circuses.

From Gilbert Keith Chesterton by Maisie Ward