comeuppance
/,kʌm'ʌpəns/
Definition
Noun: - A deserved consequence or outcome, typically one that is negative or punitive, resulting from one's actions or behavior. It implies that someone receives what they rightly deserve, often after behaving badly or arrogantly.
Usage
This word is used to describe a situation where someone experiences a fitting, usually negative, result of their own actions. It often carries a sense of poetic justice or karmic retribution.
Examples
- After years of cheating his business partners, the corrupt executive finally got his comeuppance when he was arrested and lost everything.
- The bully received his comeuppance when the smaller boy he always picked on stood up to him in front of the whole class.
- Many people felt the arrogant politician's election loss was a just comeuppance for her dishonest campaign.
Advanced Usage
- To get one's comeuppance: This is the most common collocation, meaning to receive the deserved punishment or setback.
- He was so rude to everyone that it was only a matter of time before he got his comeuppance.
- To give someone their comeuppance: To be the agent of delivering the deserved consequence.
- The new evidence in court finally gave the fraudulent witness his comeuppance.
Variants and Related Words
- Comeuppances (plural noun): The plural form, used less frequently.
- History is filled with the comeuppances of tyrants.
Synonyms
- Just deserts: A deserved reward or punishment (note: often misspelled as "just desserts").
- Retribution: Punishment inflicted as vengeance for a wrong.
- Reckoning: A time when one is called to account for one's actions.
- Poetic justice: A fitting or ironically appropriate outcome.
Idioms and Phrases
- Get what's coming to you: An informal idiom with a very similar meaning to "get your comeuppance."
- If you keep breaking the rules, you'll eventually get what's coming to you.
Noun
-
an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved
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