phrase🎓 English idiom

a taste of your own medicine

the same bad treatment you gave others

What it means

To get a taste of your own medicine means to receive the same unpleasant treatment that you have given to others. It's typically used when someone who has behaved badly finally experiences the consequences of their own actions.

Examples

After teasing everyone, he got a taste of his own medicine when they mocked him.
It's time that bully had a taste of his own medicine.
She always cancels plans, so cancelling on her gave her a taste of her own medicine.
Losing the deal was a taste of his own medicine after years of cheating clients.

Where it comes from

The phrase is often linked to one of Aesop's fables about a swindling doctor forced to swallow his own useless remedies, reflecting the idea of unwelcome treatment turned back on its giver.

Related idioms

#add insult to injury #once bitten, twice shy #throw someone under the bus #a chip on your shoulder

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