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View synonyms for poetic justice

poetic justice

noun

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


poetic justice

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


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Word History and Origins

Origin of poetic justice1

First recorded in 1720–30
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Idioms and Phrases

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]
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Example Sentences

Reality competitions switch up their rules all the time—thanks in large part to contracts with cast members that grant them an insane amount of freedom to play around—but rarely with the aim of enacting poetic justice.

From Time

Or perhaps poetic justice demands that the life of an unstoppably prolix author be parceled out in multiple, overlapping volumes.

Esposito: I thought it was poetic justice that Gus would go with Tio.

It is either poetic justice or a desperate attempt by Rupert Murdoch to stop the bleeding.

Bush took firing U.S. Attorneys to a whole new level so it would be poetic justice if President Obama purged the DoJ.

This seems to be a striking illustration of "poetic justice."

I had not dared to hope for such a complete triumph of poetic justice as occurred.

In short, your elementary class demands poetic justice—demands it strong and desires it quick.

Romantic as his exploit was, it lacked the fulness of poetic justice, since the chief offender escaped him.

The public of Priorton did not know whether most to admire Mrs. Spottiswoode's diplomacy, or this rare instance of poetic justice.

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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.

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