Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for poetic justice. Search instead for poetic+justice.
Synonyms

poetic justice

American  

noun

  1. an ideal distribution of rewards and punishments such as is common in some poetry and fiction.

poetic justice British  

noun

  1. fitting retribution; just deserts

"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
poetic justice Idioms  

  1. An outcome in which virtue is rewarded and evil punished, often in an especially appropriate or ironic manner. For example, It was poetic justice for the known thief to go to jail for the one crime he didn't commit. [Early 1700s]

Etymology

Origin of poetic justice

First recorded in 1720–30

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.