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serve someone right
[for an act or event] to punish someone fairly (for doing something). John copied off my test paper. It would serve him right if he fails the test. It'd serve John right if he got arrested.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs. © 2002 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
serve (someone) right
To be deserved under the circumstances: Punish him; it will serve him right for what he has done to you.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
serve somebody right
if something bad that happens serves someone right, they deserve it It would serve you right if your children never spoke to you again. And she didn't get the promotion she'd hoped for, which served her right for being so smug.
Cambridge Idioms Dictionary, 2nd ed. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006. Reproduced with permission.
serve you right
you deserve the punishment that you receivedAfter the way she treated him, it would serve her right if he left her.
Usage notes: often said with an attitude of pleasure because someone you do not like is suffering
Cambridge Dictionary of American IdiomsCopyright © Cambridge University Press 2003. Reproduced with permission.
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