"even the score" meaning in English

See even the score in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

Audio: en-au-even the score.ogg Forms: evens the score [present, singular, third-person], evening the score [participle, present], evened the score [participle, past], evened the score [past]
Etymology: By analogy to scorekeeping in sports. Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} even the score (third-person singular simple present evens the score, present participle evening the score, simple past and past participle evened the score)
  1. (idiomatic) To seek or obtain revenge against someone. Tags: idiomatic Synonyms: settle the score, settle a score, pay off old scores, pay back in someone's own coin Related terms: keep score, scoreboard, scorekeeper, scorekeeping Translations (Translations): een oude rekening vereffenen (Dutch), heimzahlen (German), launa lambið gráa (Icelandic), an comhar a dhíol le (Irish), ajustar cuentas (Spanish), ge igen för gammal ost (Swedish)

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "By analogy to scorekeeping in sports.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "evens the score",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "evening the score",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "evened the score",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "evened the score",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "even the score (third-person singular simple present evens the score, present participle evening the score, simple past and past participle evened the score)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Dutch translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Icelandic translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Irish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Spanish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Swedish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: pay off old scores, pay back in someone's own coin"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              80
            ]
          ],
          "text": "When the student pulled a prank on the principal, the principal evened the score by giving the student a suspension.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To seek or obtain revenge against someone."
      ],
      "id": "en-even_the_score-en-verb-Ue0-EVlF",
      "links": [
        [
          "seek",
          "seek"
        ],
        [
          "obtain",
          "obtain"
        ],
        [
          "revenge",
          "revenge"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To seek or obtain revenge against someone."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "keep score"
        },
        {
          "word": "scoreboard"
        },
        {
          "word": "scorekeeper"
        },
        {
          "word": "scorekeeping"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "settle the score"
        },
        {
          "word": "settle a score"
        },
        {
          "word": "pay off old scores"
        },
        {
          "word": "pay back in someone's own coin"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "nl",
          "lang": "Dutch",
          "lang_code": "nl",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "een oude rekening vereffenen"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "heimzahlen"
        },
        {
          "code": "is",
          "lang": "Icelandic",
          "lang_code": "is",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "launa lambið gráa"
        },
        {
          "code": "ga",
          "lang": "Irish",
          "lang_code": "ga",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "an comhar a dhíol le"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "ajustar cuentas"
        },
        {
          "code": "sv",
          "lang": "Swedish",
          "lang_code": "sv",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "ge igen för gammal ost"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-even the score.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3f/En-au-even_the_score.ogg/En-au-even_the_score.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/En-au-even_the_score.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "even the score"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "By analogy to scorekeeping in sports.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "evens the score",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "evening the score",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "evened the score",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "evened the score",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "even the score (third-person singular simple present evens the score, present participle evening the score, simple past and past participle evened the score)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "keep score"
    },
    {
      "word": "scoreboard"
    },
    {
      "word": "scorekeeper"
    },
    {
      "word": "scorekeeping"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Dutch translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Icelandic translations",
        "Terms with Irish translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations",
        "Terms with Swedish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonyms: pay off old scores, pay back in someone's own coin"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              64,
              80
            ]
          ],
          "text": "When the student pulled a prank on the principal, the principal evened the score by giving the student a suspension.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To seek or obtain revenge against someone."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "seek",
          "seek"
        ],
        [
          "obtain",
          "obtain"
        ],
        [
          "revenge",
          "revenge"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To seek or obtain revenge against someone."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "settle the score"
        },
        {
          "word": "settle a score"
        },
        {
          "word": "pay off old scores"
        },
        {
          "word": "pay back in someone's own coin"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-even the score.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/3/3f/En-au-even_the_score.ogg/En-au-even_the_score.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/En-au-even_the_score.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "nl",
      "lang": "Dutch",
      "lang_code": "nl",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "een oude rekening vereffenen"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "heimzahlen"
    },
    {
      "code": "is",
      "lang": "Icelandic",
      "lang_code": "is",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "launa lambið gráa"
    },
    {
      "code": "ga",
      "lang": "Irish",
      "lang_code": "ga",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "an comhar a dhíol le"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "ajustar cuentas"
    },
    {
      "code": "sv",
      "lang": "Swedish",
      "lang_code": "sv",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "ge igen för gammal ost"
    }
  ],
  "word": "even the score"
}

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This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-12-23 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-12-02 using wiktextract (6fdc867 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.