poetic justicenoun [ U ]
uk/pəʊˌet.ɪk ˈdʒʌs.tɪs/us/poʊˌet̬.ɪk ˈdʒʌs.tɪs/an occasion when something bad happens to a person who seems to deserve it, usually because of bad things that person has done:
What poetic justice it is that Brady has to go to court to plead to be allowed to die, just like his innocent victims pleaded to be allowed to live.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Justice and fairness
- a fair crack of the whip idiom
- all's fair in love and war idiom
- an eye for an eye (and a tooth for a tooth) idiom
- balanced
- by rights idiom
- equitable
- even-handed
- eye
- fair
- fair go
- fair-minded
- fairly
- fear
- law
- play the game idiom
- pound of flesh idiom
- reap what you have sown idiom
- term
- there's one law for the rich and another for the poor idiom
- without fear or favour idiom
See more results »