taste of own medicine

T

taste of own medicine

Meaning

  • when someone gets the same bad treatment that he has been giving others
  • a sample of the unpleasantness that someone has been giving others
  • do the same bad thing to a person who has done it to you
  • when someone is mistreated the same way he has mistreated others

Example Sentences

  1. I’m tired of him always finding faults with me. I’m going to give him a taste of his own medicine.
  2. Its not for nothing that people are calling you names; you’re getting a taste of your own medicine.
  3. Don’t be rude to others. You won’t like it when you get a taste of your own medicine.
  4. The players of that team were hurling abuses at their opponents, but they didn’t like it when they got a taste of their own medicine from the fans.
  5. He is always late for appointments and keeps people waiting, so we decided to give him a taste of his own medicine.
  6. If he doesn’t change his behaviour by reasoning, he’s going to get a taste of his own medicine.

Origin

This origin of this phrase can be found in one of Aesop’s fables. It is about a swindler who sells fake medicine, claiming that it cures anything. When he himself falls ill, people give him his own medicine, which he knows will not cure him.

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