Meaning
To be vindicated at the end: to succeed or triumph after being mocked, dismissed, or doubted. The phrase carries the implication that the early ridicule was premature and that final outcomes count for more than first reactions. Informal, with a gleeful, settling-of-scores flavour; often used about comebacks. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The verb phrase descends from the older proverb 'he laughs best who laughs last'. The Phrase Finder records the earliest print version in the play Christmas Prince, performed at Cambridge around 1608: 'Laugh on laugh on my freind / Hee laugheth best that laugheth to the end.' The proverb frames life as a contest in which early mockery can be answered by final victory, and the modern idiom compresses that argument into a single clause. Merriam-Webster enters 'have/get the last laugh' as succeeding or winning after being laughed at or doubted by others; neither source dates the exact modern wording, so only the early-seventeenth-century ancestor can be given a firm date.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- get the last laugh
- have the last laugh on someone
- he who laughs last laughs best
- he who laughs last laughs longest
Usage Examples
- Ridiculed for her quiet campaign, the librarian had the last laugh when her budget passed unanimously.
- Everyone teased Marta for training through the winter rain, but she had the last laugh at the regional final.
- The label dropped the duo in 2019, and the two musicians had the last laugh when their independent album topped the charts.