Meanings
- idiomaticpluralplural onlyFood and entertainment provided by the state, particularly if intended to placate the people.
In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.
2012 March 22, Scott Tobias, “The Hunger Games”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 04 Jan 20192 more examples
The government of William Ewart Gladstone may not supply the people, as the Roman emperors did, with "bread and circuses," but if giving them plenty to talk about can satisfy a nation, we Britishers ought just now to be very happy. A whole week is never permitted to elapse without some piece of political gaucherie being enacted for the public amusement.
[1873 January 11, “English Gossip”, in Harper’s Bazar. A Repository of Fashion, Pleasure, and Instruction, volume VI, number 2, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 30, column 4Take a Mahommedan at his devotions, and he is a model of religious abstraction; [...] but see him in his hours of relaxation, or on the occasion of a public holiday, and he is as garrulous and full of laughter as a big child. Like a child, too, he loves noise and movement for the mere sake of noise and movement, and looks upon swings and fireworks as the height of human felicity. Now swings and fireworks are Arabic for bread and circuses, and our pleb's passion for them is insatiable.
1877, Amelia B[lanford] Edwards, “Cairo and the Mecca Pilgrimage”, in A Thousand Miles up the Nile, London: Longmans, Green, & Co., →OCLC, page 35Synonyms: bread and games
- broadlypluralplural onlyGrand spectacles staged or statements made to distract and pacify people.
It’s tempting to mention bread and circuses here, except there’s no bread.
2026 June 15, Michelle Goldberg, “The UFC 250 Was a Garish Spectacle of American Decline”, in The New York Times, →ISSN3 more examples
One thing which this study makes evident is that the Welfare State fantasy is usually conjured up by some scheming politician posing as a public benefactor and using "bread and circuses", paid for by the people's own money, to buy the support of the populace.
1950, Willford I[sbel] King, “The Something-for-nothing Deception”, in The Right Way to Provide Security against Illness and Old Age, [New York, N.Y.]: Committee for Constitutional Government, →OCLC, page 1But is populism actually popular? Or is it simply sedative patronisation, bread and circuses devised by a cynical caste of free marketeers who presumptuously underestimate the collective intellect?
2009 April 30, Jonathan Meades, “Yesterday’s Tomorrow: Militant Modernism, Owen Hatherley, Zero Books, 146pp, £9.99 [book review]”, in New Statesman, London: New Statesman Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 21 Sep 2017At one rather telling point, [Jeremy] Hunt accused Boris [Johnson] of 'peddling optimism' by trying to guarantee we would definitely leave the EU on October 31. Boris's bread-and-circuses response – 'People want a bit of optimism, Jeremy!' – drew wild applause from the 200-odd crowd.
2019 July 10, Henry Deedes, “It felt like seeing the Head Boy debate the class clown”, in Daily Mail, London: DMG Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 Jul 2019
Synonyms & antonyms
nounFood and entertainment provided by the state, particularly if intended to placate the people.
Origin
- Latinpanem et circenses
- Englishbread and circuses
Calque of Latin panem et circenses, a reference to Satire 10 of the Roman poet Juvenal’s Satires (early 2nd century C.E.). The relevant passage states: “… nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses” (“[F]or that sovereign people that once gave away military command, consulships, legions, and every thing, now bridles its desires, and limits its anxious longings to two things only,—bread, and the games of the circus!”). Juvenal was commenting that the Roman people no longer cared for political involvement, and were satisfied with cheap food and entertainment provided by politicians.
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Basque ogia eta zirku
- ogia eta zirkufood and entertainment provided by the state
Catalan pa i circ
- pa i circfood and entertainment provided by the state
Chinese Cantonese 蛇齋餅粽 /蛇斋饼粽
- 蛇齋餅粽 /蛇斋饼粽food and entertainment provided by the state
Chinese Mandarin 麵包與馬戲 /面包与马戏
- 麵包與馬戲 /面包与马戏 (miànbāo yǔ mǎxì)food and entertainment provided by the state
Czech chléb a hry
- chléb a hryfood and entertainment provided by the state
Danish brød og skuespil
- brød og skuespilfood and entertainment provided by the state
Dutch brood en spelen
- brood en spelenfood and entertainment provided by the state
Esperanto pano kaj ludoj
- pano kaj ludojfood and entertainment provided by the state
Estonian leib ja tsirkus
- leib ja tsirkusfood and entertainment provided by the state
Finnish leipä ja sirkushuvit
- leipä ja sirkushuvitfood and entertainment provided by the state
French du pain et des jeux
- du pain et des jeuxfood and entertainment provided by the state
German Brot und Zirkusspiele, Brot und Spiele
- Brot und Zirkusspielefood and entertainment provided by the state
- Brot und Spielefood and entertainment provided by the state
Greek άρτον και θεάματα
- άρτον και θεάματα (árton kai theámata)food and entertainment provided by the state
Hebrew לֶחֶם וְשַׁעֲשׁוּעִים
- לֶחֶם וְשַׁעֲשׁוּעִים (lekhem vesha'ashu'im)food and entertainment provided by the state
Icelandic brauði og leikum
- brauði og leikumfood and entertainment provided by the state
Japanese パンとサーカス
- パンとサーカス (pan to sākasu)food and entertainment provided by the state
Latin panem et circenses
- panem et circensesfood and entertainment provided by the state
Lithuanian duonos ir žaidimų
- duonos ir žaidimųfood and entertainment provided by the state
Portuguese pão e circo, pão e circo
- pão e circofood and entertainment provided by the state
- pão e circogrand spectacles staged or statements made to distract and pacify people
Romanian pâine și circ
- pâine și circfood and entertainment provided by the state
Spanish pan y circo, pan y circo
- pan y circofood and entertainment provided by the state
- pan y circogrand spectacles staged or statements made to distract and pacify people
Swedish bröd och skådespel
- bröd och skådespelfood and entertainment provided by the state
Turkish ekmek ve sirkler, ekmek ve sirk oyunları
- ekmek ve sirklerfood and entertainment provided by the state
- ekmek ve sirk oyunlarıfood and entertainment provided by the state
Cite this entry
bread and circuses. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bread%20and%20circuses
“bread and circuses.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bread%20and%20circuses. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bread and circuses,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bread%20and%20circuses.
Source: bread and circuses on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.