Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

come home to roost

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.00 in modern English

Syllables: come home- -to roost
IPA

24

Scrabble Score

15

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

verb

To have negative consequences (of an action in the past).

Example Sentences

"At some point, he warned, sentiment among foreign investors could turn against America's deteriorating fundamentals, triggering a sharp sell-off in U.S. stocks and bonds that would threaten to throw the economy's expansion into reverse. "Will those risks ever come home to roost? One can't predict with great confidence," said Summers."

Inflected Forms

comes home to roost (present, singular) coming home to roost (participle, present) came home to roost (past) the chickens come home to roost (alternative)

Phrases

come back to bite

Frequently Paired Words

come back to bite

Questions

What does come home to roost mean?: To have negative consequences (of an action in the past).

How to pronounce come home to roost

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “come home to roost”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “come home to roost”.
Repeat and practice — Say “come home to roost” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.