Meaning & use
Nero
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Meanings
proper nounproper
The Roman emperor who ruled from 54 to 68 CE and is remembered for brutal rule, personal excess and neglect of public duty.
Grammar: Always capitalized and used without an article: Nero ruled Rome.
Patterns
- Nero's reign
- the emperor Nero
Nero became emperor as a teenager and was dead before he turned thirty-two.
Historians still argue about how much of Nero's bad reputation was invented by writers who disliked him.
The film showed Nero performing on stage while courtiers pretended to admire him.
proper nounproperfigurativedisapproving
Used figuratively for a ruler or leader who seems to ignore a disaster or enjoy himself while others suffer.
Grammar: Often appears in the saying about Nero fiddling while Rome burned; it works as a comparison: he acted like Nero.
Patterns
- fiddle like Nero
- a modern Nero
Critics called the mayor a Nero for hosting a gala during the flood.
Reading the news reports, voters felt the minister was playing Nero while the hospitals ran out of beds.
Nobody wants to be remembered as the Nero of the company who redecorated the office as it went bankrupt.
Common combinations
- Emperor Nero
- Emperor Nero ordered a vast palace to be built in the heart of the city.
- the reign of Nero
- The reign of Nero ended when the army and senate turned against him.
- Nero fiddled while Rome burned
- Nero fiddled while Rome burned is a phrase people use when leaders seem careless in a crisis.
- in the time of Nero
- Christians were persecuted in the time of Nero, according to several ancient accounts.
- a Nero-like ruler
- The novel portrays a Nero-like ruler who cares only for applause.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tyrant
- Tyrant describes any cruel and unjust ruler, whereas Nero points to one particular man and also suggests careless self-indulgence.
- despot
- Despot stresses absolute, unchecked power, while Nero adds the picture of someone distracted by pleasure during a crisis.
- autocrat
- Autocrat is a neutral-to-critical term for a ruler with total authority, and it does not carry the cruelty or theatrical vanity linked to Nero.
Word family
- Neronian adjective
- relating to Nero or his period, as in Neronian Rome
- Neronic adjective
- cruel or extravagant in the way Nero was said to be
Practice
A columnist wrote that the governor was 'playing Nero' during the storm. What did she mean?
Choose one answer.
Playing Nero refers to the story of fiddling while Rome burned, meaning careless indifference in a crisis. Cruelty or building projects fit the real emperor but not this figurative use.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “Nero”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.