comeuppance · noun — retribution or outcome that is justly deserved. It carries an Arena rating of 1875, earned across 32 head-to-head judged battles.
Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, comeuppance ranks #207 of 17,188 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,467 of 17,197 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #1,484 of 17,165 for Most Satisfying to Say, #1,651 of 17,180 for Most Ingenious Words.
comeuppance is pronounced /kʌmˈʌpəns/.
Why “comeuppance” is a great word
A justly deserved reversal of fortune or punishment, received as retribution for one’s own actions. Formed within English from the phrasal verb 'to come up' (in the sense of being presented for judgment) + the noun-forming suffix '-ance', first attested in 1859. Unlike 'retribution' (a formal, abstract term for punitive justice) or 'nemesis' (which conjures an inexorable, personified agent of fate), comeuppance is the specific, often ironic, personal bill coming due. It is the slick braggart slipping on his own polished floor, the schemer hoist by his own intricate petard, and the quiet, cooling moment after the grandiose lie has been definitively exposed—a mundane settling of accounts that feels, in its precise fittingness, almost cosmic.
❧ Essay by Lexicurio’s AI · definition, etymology & citations from published sources
Etymology
From come up (“to appear before a judge”) + -ance.
noun
- Retribution or outcome that is justly deserved.e.g.“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.” — 1883, Albion Winegar Tourgée, editor, The Continent; an illustrated weekly magazine, volume 3:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
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