to serve (someone) right
22
7.3
- idiom
- /sɝv ˈsʌmwən raɪt/
- Informal
:
merecerse (algo)
- Well, it serves the young whippersnapper right.
- Serves you right
- Serves you right, you bastard
- Well, serves you right
Examples
-
He cheated on the exam, and when he failed, it served him right.
-
It'll serve him right for poisoning cats.
-
You know, it serves you right.
-
Well, serves them right for lying to us.
-
Then he said to Kate, "Serves me right, I suppose."
Fiction book (1996) -
Serves you right, he thought, you commission-hungry woman.
Fiction book (2000) -
It serves the scoundrel right!
-
Serves you right, getting too big for your britches, taking notions about rising above your raising.
Fiction book (1997) -
It serves him right.
-
It would serve him right, swanning about the place like bloody Tarzan.
Fiction book (2002)
Synonyms
3
6.6
To get a bad result you deserve because of what you did
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to be deserved' can be partly inferred from 'right' (just/deserved) and a less literal sense of 'serve' (to be appropriate or to give), so a learner might guess the expression's gist. However, the verb 'serve' in this idiom maps onto the concept of 'deserve' in a non-literal, construction-specific way that many B1 learners who only know basic senses may not predict without exposure. Because the connection is plausible but not fully compositional or universally mirrored across languages, this is best classified as semi-transparent.
Etymology
The idiom serve (someone) right comes from the simple image of serve meaning to give someone something that fits their action, like giving a punishment that matches a wrong deed. So, saying it serves someone right means the bad result 'is deserved' because of what they did.