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