English idiom

bread and circuses

Register · Formal CEFR C1

Post

Figurative meaning

basic comforts and entertainment offered to distract the public from serious problems

Word picture

The public is pictured receiving food and spectacle while larger concerns remain out of view.

Example

“Critics dismissed the flashy festival as bread and circuses while public services were being cut.”

Dictionary details

Component words

bread

Tags

Expressions connected by reviewed component words or topic tags.

cramp someone's style

to limit someone's freedom to behave or express themselves in their usual way

friends in high places

powerful or influential acquaintances who can provide help or favorable treatment

cut loose

to abandon restraint and behave freely or wildly

every which way

in every direction, often in a scattered or disorderly way

fall in line

to obey or accept the rules and expectations set by a group or authority

get out of hand

To become impossible to control.

Source methodology

Meanings, register, CEFR, and examples come from the reviewed dictionary record. Expression notes may describe a reviewed present-day word picture or a background note; they are not presented as verified etymology.

External links

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