bread and circuses

noun

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

bread and circuses

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 .)

Notes

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of bread and circuses¹

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

Roman poet Juvenal coined the phrase “bread and circuses” nearly 2,000 years ago for the extravagant entertainment the Roman Empire used to distract attention from imperial policies that caused widespread discontent.

From Salon

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

The context might be different, depending on, say, whether the audience is living in a republic or an empire, but the basics will remain the same: sex and violence, swords and sandals, bread and circuses, the decadent rich and the honest poor.

From Los Angeles Times

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

So McCarthy has adapted the Roman emperors’ palliative for the potentially mutinous mob: Give the people bread and circuses.

From Los Angeles Times