Idiom
the joke is on someone
Meaning
Someone is the butt of a joke or is experiencing a negative outcome, especially if that person was trying to make someone else the butt of the joke or subject them to the negative outcome.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“He tried to trick me, but the joke is on him.”
“She hid my keys to be funny, but the joke is on her because now she is late for work too.”
“After the prankster accidentally locked himself inside the room he intended for his victim, he realized with dismay that the joke is on him.”
Examples
simple
“He tried to trick me, but the joke is on him.”
contextual
“She hid my keys to be funny, but the joke is on her because now she is late for work too.”
complex
“After the prankster accidentally locked himself inside the room he intended for his victim, he realized with dismay that the joke is on him.”
Key words
Related idioms
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