Standard Lemma guide

comeuppance

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /kʌmˈʌpəns/
  • Australia: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʌpəns
  • CMU ARPABET: K AH2 M AH1 P AH0 N S Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

Retribution or outcome that is justly deserved.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable, usually

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an outcome (good or bad) that is well deserved

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: deserts, comeupance

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: consequence, aftermath

History

Etymology

Etymology tree English come up Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -iader. Old French -ancebor. Middle English -aunce English -ance English comeuppance From come up (“to appear before a judge”) + -ance.

Across languages

Translations

23 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: قِصَاص عَادِل (qiṣāṣ ʕādil) — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Chinese Mandarin: 報應 /报应 (bàoyìng) — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Czech: spravedlivý trest — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Danish: løn som fortjent — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Finnish: ansaittu rangaistus — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Finnish: sopiva rangaistus — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • French: châtiment — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Galician: merecido — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • German: die wohlverdiente Strafe — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • German: Quittung — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Hungarian: megérdemelt büntetés — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Hungarian: juss — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Indonesian: kualat — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Norwegian: lønn som fortjent — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Polish: zasłużona kara — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Russian: заслуженное наказа́ние (zaslužennoje nakazánije) — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Serbo-Croatian: zaslužena kazna — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Spanish: merecido — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Spanish: escarmiento — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Ukrainian: належна кара (naležna kara) — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Ukrainian: заслужене покарання (zaslužene pokarannja) — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Ukrainian: належне (naležne) — an outcome that is justly deserved
  • Ukrainian: прочухан (pročuxan) — an outcome that is justly deserved