Word.ws English Dictionary

poetic justice

Syllables: po·et·ic jus·tice/pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs//poʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/

poetic justice noun: synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”).

Noun

poetic justice (uncountable)

  1. Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”).
    • For though historical Juſtice might reſt there; yet poetical Juſtice could not be ſo content. It vvould require that the ſatisfaction be compleat and full, e're the Malefactor goes off the Stage, and nothing left to God Almighty, and another VVorld.[1678, Thomas Rymer, “The Tragedy of Rollo Duke of Normandy”, in The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin‘d […], London: […] Richard Tonson […], →OCLC, page 26
    • Poetic Juſtice, vvith her lifted ſcale; / VVhere in nice balance, truth vvith gold ſhe vveighs, / And ſolid pudding againſt empty praiſe.1728, [Alexander Pope], “Book the First”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC, page 3, lines 40–42
  2. (broadly, generally) The fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner.
    • Operation PAR is the largest provider of addiction and mental health services in the Tampa Bay area. […] Now PAR is going to get poetic justice through an innovative concept which takes seized assets from drug kingpins and gives back to the community in the form of prevention and treatment programs.1997 September–October, “Poetic Justice”, in Aaron R. Fodiman, editor, Tampa Bay Magazine, volume 12, number 5, Clearwater, Fla.: Tampa Bay Publications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 20, column 3
    • It might, of course, be argued that the cowboy who mutilated the face of the prostitute was the one ingloriously killed while defecating, and there is something of poetic justice, at least, in that outcome. Poetic justice, however, does not make for virtuous vengeance.2001, Peter A. French, “The Western Vengeance Films”, in The Virtues of Vengeance, Lawrence, Kan.: University Press of Kansas, →ISBN, part 1 (Vengeance in Literature and Popular Culture), page 40

poetic justice meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Arabic

poetic justice in Tamil

பாவியல் நயன்மை, கவிதைச் சிறப்புரிமை

poetic justice in Malayalam

fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner
കാവ്യനീതി kāvyanīti

poetic justice in Kannada

ಆದರ್ಶಪ್ರಾಯ ನ್ಯಾಯ

poetic justice in Arabic

fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner
عدالة شعرية
More languagesFewer languages
poetic justice in Persian
عدالت شاعرانه

Examples of poetic justice in a sentence

  • [W]e cannot expect, nor does poetic justice allow, that a man shall act contary to his own nature through any force of will.1894, Charles W. Hodell, “Shakespeare’s Opening Scenes as Striking the Key-note of Dramatic Action and Motive”, in Charlotte Porter, Helen...
  • We can begin to get an insight into these needs by recognizing that poetic justice is a conscious or unconscious imitation of ideal justice.1969, O[sborne] B[ennett] Hardison [Jr.], “Three Types of Renaissance Catharsis”, in Renaissance Drama, volume 2 (New Series), Evanston...
  • "To poetic justice." He clinked the can with her glass. / "Poetic justice?" / "If it hadn't been for your grandmother's poems, I would never have looked for her.2004, Margot Vesel Rising, chapter 13, in Poetic Justice, Lincoln, Neb.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 159:

Synonyms of poetic justice

Origin of poetic justice

From poetic + justice, a variant of poetical justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.

Questions about poetic justice

What does poetic justice mean?
Poetic justice means synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”).
What is poetic justice in Tamil?
Poetic justice in Tamil is பாவியல் நயன்மை, கவிதைச் சிறப்புரிமை. See Poetic justice meaning in Tamil.
How do you use poetic justice in a sentence?
[W]e cannot expect, nor does poetic justice allow, that a man shall act contary to his own nature through any force of will.
What part of speech is poetic justice?
Poetic justice is a noun.
How do you pronounce poetic justice?
Poetic justice is pronounced /pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/ (UK).

Words near poetic justice in the dictionary

  1. poetette
  2. poetettes
  3. poethood
  4. poetic
  5. Poetic Edda
  6. poetic justice
  7. poetic licence
  8. poetic license
  9. poetical
  10. poetical justice
  11. poeticalities

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: poetic justice (page history and authors); poetic justice (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); poetic justice (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-poetic justice.wav, En-us-poetic justice.oga.

Cite this entry: “poetic justice.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/poetic_justice. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.