comeuppance

[kuhm-uhp-uh ns]

See more synonyms for comeuppance on Thesaurus.com

noun Informal.

deserved reward or just deserts, usually unpleasant: He finally got his comeuppance for his misbehavior.

Origin of comeuppance

1855–60, Americanism; from phrase come up + -ance

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for comeuppance

retribution, due, requital, recompense

Examples from the Web for comeuppance

Contemporary Examples of comeuppance

After all, the comeuppance of the Big Bad is the good part of any horror story.
J.K. Rowling Pens the Greatest Horror Story Ever: Dolores Umbridge Was Real
Kevin Fallon
October 31, 2014
It even has a comeuppance ending, and the bad guy is killed.
What Asian Film Remakes Like ‘Oldboy’ Get Wrong
Jimmy So
November 26, 2013
Taranto's “comeuppance” idea rests on two odd assumptions/insinuations.
Getting It Right on Obamacare
David Frum
October 31, 2013
Obama got his comeuppance in 2010 when the GOP won the House.
How Obama and the Democrats Could Win on Gun Control—by Losing
Eleanor Clift
January 31, 2013
There is, at the end, no comeuppance, just a sense of the stealth poison of materiality—its psychic numbing.
Literary Gold in Hard Times
Chloë Schama
November 4, 2011

Historical Examples of comeuppance

You young smart Alecks will get your comeuppance, muttered the man.
The Trail Boys on the Plains
Jay Winthrop Allen

British Dictionary definitions for comeuppance

comeuppance

noun

informal just retribution

Word Origin for comeuppance

C19: from come up (in the sense: to appear before a judge or court for judgment)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for comeuppance

also comeupance, 1859, presumably rooted in verbal phrase come up "present oneself for judgment before a tribunal" + -ance.