Comeuppance

//kʌmˈʌpəns// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Retribution or outcome that is justly deserved. uncountable, usually

    "So when Brown's second wife turned out a reg'lar ternygrunt, I wa'n't in no wise upset, for he needed a comeuppance, an' he got it in her."

  2. 2
    an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved and fitting wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
desertsjust desertsjust desertscomeupancecompensationdesert

Example

More examples

"Atheists will get their comeuppance on Judgment Day."

Etymology

From come up (“to appear before a judge”) + -ance.

Related phrases

serve someone right

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.