poetic justice
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
That ideal justice which poets exercise in making the good happy, and the bad unsuccessful in their evil schemes.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “poetic justice” mean?
That ideal justice which poets exercise in making the good happy, and the bad unsuccessful in their evil schemes.
Is “poetic justice” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.