GET EVEN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does get even mean? 

• GET EVEN (verb)
  The verb GET EVEN has 2 senses:

1. compensate; make the score equal

2. take revenge or even out a score

  Familiarity information: GET EVEN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GET EVEN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Compensate; make the score equal

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

equalise; equalize; get even

Hypernyms (to "get even" is one way to...):

hit; rack up; score; tally (gain points in a game)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sense 2

Meaning:

Take revenge or even out a score

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

get back; get even

Context example:

I cannot accept the defeat--I want to get even

Hypernyms (to "get even" is one way to...):

avenge; retaliate; revenge (take revenge for a perceived wrong)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "get even"):

fix; get; pay back; pay off (take vengeance on or get even)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

Yes; but there came a man who laid freely the other way, and he started others taking the odds, until now you can get even money.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)