poetic justice
/pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/
"poetic-justice" is a 13-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“poetic justice” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 14
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | poetic justice |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/ |
| Letters | 14 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “poetic justice” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
poetic justice is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun, transcribed /pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.
No generated misspelling entries exist for poetic justice in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. Our dataset records no confusable match here, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: From poetic + justice, a variant of poetical justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation. The correct English form is poetic justice, spelled P-O-E-T-I-C- -J-U-S-T-I-C-E.
Definition
- 1Synonym of poetical justice (“the idea that in a literary work such as a poem, virtue should be rewarded and vice punished”).
- 2The fact of someone experiencing what they deserve for their actions, especially when this happens in an ironic manner.
Etymology
From poetic + justice, a variant of poetical justice, coined by the English literary critic Thomas Rymer (c. 1643 – 1713) in the work The Tragedies of the Last Age Consider’d and Examin’d (1678): see the quotation.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “poetic justice”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is P-O-E-T-I-C- -J-U-S-T-I-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /pəʊˌɛtɪk ˈd͡ʒʌstɪs/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.