Comeuppance
noun
The punishment or fate that someone deserves or has earned, especially when it finally happens.
He always treated others poorly, and many said his bankruptcy was his comeuppance.
Often appears as...
- get one's comeuppance
- deserve a comeuppance
Usage tips
Disapproving
Colloquial
noun
The punishment or fate that someone deserves or has earned, especially when it finally happens.
He always treated others poorly, and many said his bankruptcy was his comeuppance.
Often appears as...
- get one's comeuppance
- deserve a comeuppance
Usage tips
Disapproving
Colloquial
Definition 1 of 1
Pro Tip 1/3Consequence Tone
Comeuppance often implies negative consequences for someone's actions, suggesting a moral lesson.
After cheating in the exam, his comeuppance was failing the course.
Pro Tip 2/3Word Emphasis
Stressing 'comeuppance' in a sentence intensifies the feeling that justice was served.
Finally, the corrupt politician received his comeuppance.
Pro Tip 3/3Narrative Use
Often used in stories to describe a twist where a character faces the result of their deeds.
The villain's comeuppance at the story's end satisfied readers.
Compare with
come backconsequencekarmanemesispunishmentreckonretributionvindicator
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Quote examples
Andrew Breitbart
American Businessman
Exposed in the relentless Palin attacks is not just political bias but unmitigated class bias. The American mainstream media in its current free-fall is begging for more comeuppance when it continues to berate the values and lifestyles of the folks in flyover country who, in simpler times, used to be considered valued customers.
Quote examples
P. J. O'Rourke
American Comedian
The importance of local governance may not be obvious to an America accustomed to treating city and state downfalls with doses of federal comeuppance. Sometimes there's a reason for that - the Civil War. More often, all reasoning seems absent - No Child Left Behind.
Quote examples
Ian McElhinney
Irish Actor
On another level I'd unfortunately read the books. I knew Barristan had a different story in the books and I was hoping for a bit more of Barristan alive before he met his comeuppance... well, comeuppance is unfair, he didn't deserve a comeuppance.
Quote examples
Vince Gilligan
American Writer
For many decades - and this was reinforced by the broadcast networks' standards-and-practices department - bad guys on TV had to get their comeuppance, and good guys had to be brave and true and unconflicted. Those were the laws of the business.
Quote examples
Maria Shriver
American Journalist
I decided that I was going to be the Kennedy who makes her own name and finds her own job and works like a dog. My comeuppance was when Arnold got elected - I became the Kennedy who was married to the governor.
Quote examples
George A. Romero
American Director
I grew up on DC Comics, moral tales where the bad guys got their comeuppance. To me the gory panels or grotesque stuff just made me chuckle.
Quote examples
Matt Stone
American Producer
In our show, there's usually a comeuppance. Or, if not, it's an anti-ending. And you're supposed to get that.
Quote examples
Charles Bronson
American Actor
Audiences like to see the bad guys get their comeuppance.
Quote examples
Andrew Breitbart
American Businessman
Exposed in the relentless Palin attacks is not just political bias but unmitigated class bias. The American mainstream media in its current free-fall is begging for more comeuppance when it continues to berate the values and lifestyles of the folks in flyover country who, in simpler times, used to be considered valued customers.
Quote examples
P. J. O'Rourke
American Comedian
The importance of local governance may not be obvious to an America accustomed to treating city and state downfalls with doses of federal comeuppance. Sometimes there's a reason for that - the Civil War. More often, all reasoning seems absent - No Child Left Behind.
Quote examples
Ian McElhinney
Irish Actor
On another level I'd unfortunately read the books. I knew Barristan had a different story in the books and I was hoping for a bit more of Barristan alive before he met his comeuppance... well, comeuppance is unfair, he didn't deserve a comeuppance.
Quote examples
Vince Gilligan
American Writer
For many decades - and this was reinforced by the broadcast networks' standards-and-practices department - bad guys on TV had to get their comeuppance, and good guys had to be brave and true and unconflicted. Those were the laws of the business.
Quote examples
Maria Shriver
American Journalist
I decided that I was going to be the Kennedy who makes her own name and finds her own job and works like a dog. My comeuppance was when Arnold got elected - I became the Kennedy who was married to the governor.
Quote examples
George A. Romero
American Director
I grew up on DC Comics, moral tales where the bad guys got their comeuppance. To me the gory panels or grotesque stuff just made me chuckle.
Quote examples
Matt Stone
American Producer
In our show, there's usually a comeuppance. Or, if not, it's an anti-ending. And you're supposed to get that.
Quote examples
Charles Bronson
American Actor
Audiences like to see the bad guys get their comeuppance.
Example 1 of 8
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