it will come back and haunt you
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
Past actions will have negative consequences later
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Hành động trong quá khứ sẽ có hậu quả tiêu cực sau này
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a ghost haunting
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “it will come back and haunt you” mean?
Past actions will have negative consequences later Literally: a ghost haunting
Is “it will come back and haunt you” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.