bread and circuses

plural noun

: a palliative offered especially to avert potential discontent

Examples of bread and circuses in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Murphy casts fame and celebrity like the Romans used bread and circuses. Michael Appler, Variety, 24 Sep. 2024 The book’s critique of governmental bread and circuses to mollify the masses also gets neutered, as the film ironically shoves cameos by other Netflix stars into every available minute — as if reminding viewers there’s plenty else to watch here once the film ends. Ct Jones, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2024 My second takeaway is that bread and circuses — the Roman phrase for distracting the populace with spectacle — was in full force. Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 19 July 2024 The stunning picture of a woman dancing on the back of a horse impossibly balanced astride a narrow tightrope is a historic exemplar of the diversionary power of bread and circuses. Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times, 10 June 2024 So part of this is a kind of bread and circuses campaign, right? The Politics Of Everything, The New Republic, 27 Sep. 2023 But Close paints an evocative portrait of the varied and ambiguous roles sports can play in an autocracy, where a regime’s reliance on bread and circuses may eventually wear thin in the absence of genuine progress. Lisa Anderson, Foreign Affairs, 11 Aug. 2020 The Romans are famous for offering bread and circuses to their underprivileged citizens. Serenity Gibbons, Forbes, 2 Aug. 2022 Who can resist the tempting spread of digital bread and circuses, birds and cake? Kc Cole, Wired, 22 Dec. 2021

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'bread and circuses.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

translation of Latin panis et circenses

First Known Use

1872, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of bread and circuses was in 1872

Dictionary Entries Near bread and circuses

Cite this Entry

“Bread and circuses.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bread%20and%20circuses. Accessed 10 Oct. 2024.

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