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serve one right

Idioms  

  1. Be deserved under the circumstances. For example, That punishment serves him right after what he's done to you. It is also put as serves you right, as in It wasn't accepted? Serves you right for applying so late. These idioms use serve in the sense of “treat in a specified manner,” in this case, justly. [Late 1500s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

V. punish; chastise, chasten; castigate, correct, inflict punishment, administer correction, deal retributive justice; cowhide, lambaste*. visit upon, pay; pay out, serve out; do for; make short work of, give a lesson to, serve one right, make an example of; have a rod in pickle for; give it one. strike &c.

From Project Gutenberg

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.