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bread and circuses
3 dictionary results for: Bread and circuses
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
bread and circuses
–noun
| something, as extravagant entertainment, offered as an expedient means of pacifying discontent or diverting attention from a source of grievance. |
[Origin: 1910–15; trans. of L pānis et circénsés; from a remark by the Roman satirist Juvenal on the limited desires of the Roman populace
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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| bread and circuses
pl.n. Offerings, such as benefits or entertainments, intended to placate discontent or distract attention from a policy or situation. [Translation of Latin pānem et circēnsēs, a phrase coined by the Roman poet Juvenal : pānem, accusative singular of pānis, bread + et, and + circēnsēs, circus games.] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
American Heritage New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition - Cite This Source - Share This
bread and circuses
bread and circuses
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.)
Note: “Bread and circuses” has become a convenient general term for government policies that seek short-term solutions to public unrest.
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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