what goes around comes around
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Also seen as: what goes around, comes around · what comes around goes around · what goes round comes round · what go round come round
Sense 1
A person's actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person.
Hành động của một người sẽ thường có hậu quả cho người đó
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Examples
Usage example from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 2
Things repeat in cycles.
Sources & notes
Adapted from English Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30 via kaikki.org).
Sense 3
Traditional English proverbial phrase; full definition pending editorial review.
Examples
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed on Wikipedia “List of proverbial phrases” (CC BY-SA 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review.
Equivalents & related
Lighter cards are two steps away in the meaning graph — equivalents of equivalents, reached via the entry shown on the card.
Common questions
What does “what goes around comes around” mean?
A person's actions, whether good or bad, will often have consequences for that person.
Is “what goes around comes around” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.
What is the closest equivalent?
“ác giả ác báo” (Tiếng Việt) — near equivalent.