Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A punishment or retribution that one deserves; one's just desserts.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An unpleasant experience a person endures, which is viewed by others as a just retribution for bad behavior; just deserts.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A negative
outcome which isjustly deserved.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The final comeuppance is a bit of a surprise, but I have to admit problem sloughing through the Scottish dialogue, half of which I had to read through twice.
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"If you love to hate the superrich, The Valet, a delectable comedy in which the great French actor Daniel Auteuil portrays a piggy billionaire industrialist facing his comeuppance, is a sinfully delicious bonbon," writes Stephen Holden in the New York Times.
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The Swiss miss finally recieved her comeuppance from the Japanese veteran after being up 2 breaks in the third set.
WIMBLEDON 2006: Ladies' Quarterfinal Predictions Ron Buckmire 2006
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The Swiss miss finally recieved her comeuppance from the Japanese veteran after being up 2 breaks in the third set.
Archive 2006-06-01 Ron Buckmire 2006
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The idea that liberals never understood this until Bush v. Gore, and that now, finally, they are getting their righteous comeuppance, is bizzare.
Balkinization 2003
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The idea that liberals never understood this until Bush v. Gore, and that now, finally, they are getting their righteous comeuppance, is bizzare.
Balkinization 2003
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But just before the nuptials, fate and a little comeuppance from the past threaten the happy couple's future.
Not A Day Goes By: Summary and book reviews of Not A Day Goes By by E Lynn Harris. 2000
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She starts off, by design, as an unsympathetic character (hence the titled comeuppance), who, like any newcomer in a Hollywood flick, not only learns to cope well enough (despite the natives) to stay in Japan and grow, but also to recommend to everyone (in a self-important interview in the back of the book) to try living overseas (I agree, of course, but one year abroad hardly makes one an authority on world travel).
debito.org 2009
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It reminds me of that John Wayne movie where his insubordinate and rude eldest son got his comeuppance from the “old man” and old John said; “If you won’t respect your elders, you’ll sure as hell respect your betters.”
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Indeed, could not the "great vampire squid", Goldman Sachs, end up twisting on a harpoon called comeuppance?
Julian Kossoff: After the Humiliation of Rupert Murdoch, Comeuppance for Goldman Sachs? Julian Kossoff 2011
chained_bear commented on the word comeuppance
This has to be a Victorian-era invention.
April 21, 2008
sionnach commented on the word comeuppance
It does have the whiff of scullerymaid about it, don't it?
April 21, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word comeuppance
Nobody is listing whiff of scullerymaid. Why don't you?
April 22, 2008
vanishedone commented on the word comeuppance
Is it worrying that I read that as an existential question?
April 22, 2008
plethora commented on the word comeuppance
In a word?
Yes.
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word comeuppance
1859. I'm not sure it fits the main criterion for my list though: it's not a particularly strange or idle word, after all. I'll mull it over…
April 22, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word comeuppance
It wasn't actually a suggestion, sarra, but feel free if you choose!
April 22, 2008
sarra commented on the word comeuppance
mmhm, I couldn't resist confirming your suspicion, and that then led to a wondering on my part. Not quite so direct!
April 22, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word comeuppance
Well, actually, it was probably your list that prompted me to think "hey, isn't this Victorian?" in the first place. So whose fault is it now, huh?! ;)
April 22, 2008
bilby commented on the word comeuppance
"Despite the hot-tempered invective directed its way, the 'Great Satan' didn't face its comeuppance until the New Deal in the 1930s. Then, all its transgressions -- its speculative greed, its felonious insider-dealing, its cynical manipulation of popular credulity, its extravagant incompetence and seemingly limitless capacity for self-delusion -- left Wall Street truly vulnerable."
- Steve Fraser, 'Wall Street and the Return of the Repressed', 2 Oct 2008.
October 3, 2008