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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
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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
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 30 Dec. 2024.
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