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Poetic justice
Definitions
- 1 Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”). uncountable
"For though historical Juſtice might reſt there; yet poetical Juſtice could not be ſo content. It vvould require that the ſatisfaction be compleat and full, e're the Malefactor goes off the Stage, and nothing left to God Almighty, and another VVorld."
- 2 an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved and fitting wordnet
- 3 The fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner. broadly, uncountable
"Operation PAR is the largest provider of addiction and mental health services in the Tampa Bay area. […] Now PAR is going to get poetic justice through an innovative concept which takes seized assets from drug kingpins and gives back to the community in the form of prevention and treatment programs."
Etymology
From poetic + justice, a variant of poetical justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.
See also for "poetic justice"
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