had it coming
Deserved the outcome
To have something coming is to deserve what happens to you, almost always something bad.
The phrase appears most often in past tense: He had it coming.
It implies that misfortune or punishment was earned through prior behavior—a kind of karmic justice.
After years of cheating his partners, he finally got caught. He had it coming.
- deservedRightfully earned or warranted
- meritedRightfully earned or warranted
- earnedGained by effort
- comeuppanceDeserved punishment or rebuke
- inevitableCertain to occur
served them right · retribution · poetic justice · karma · culpable · schadenfreude · face the music · payback · blameworthy · played with fire · warranted · reprisal · reckoning · blame · consequences · accountability · foreseen · retaliation