# veni, vidi, vici

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/veni-vidi-vici
Updated: 2026-08-03

## Meaning

I came, I saw, I conquered — used of a job done fast and without difficulty.

## Examples

- She walked into the interview and got the job. Veni, vidi, vici.
- The new team took the market in a single quarter — veni, vidi, vici, as their director kept telling anyone who would listen.
- The write-up read like a veni, vidi, vici dispatch, three clean sentences that carefully omitted the eighteen months of unglamorous preparation without which none of it would have worked.

## Origin

In 47 BC Caesar met Pharnaces II of Pontus at Zela in what is now northern Turkey. The battle was over in about four hours. Caesar's report to Rome, according to Plutarch and Suetonius, was three words: veni, vidi, vici — I came, I saw, I conquered. The line works in Latin in a way translation flattens. Three verbs, two syllables each, identical endings, no conjunctions: the speed of the sentence is the speed of the campaign. Suetonius says the words were carried on a placard in Caesar's triumph, which makes them one of the oldest surviving pieces of political sloganeering. English uses the phrase for any task finished with conspicuous ease — and often with a raised eyebrow, since announcing your own victory in Latin is not a modest act.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.