come home to roost

verb

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

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Meanings

verbcome home to roost (third-person singular simple present comes home to roost, present participle coming home to roost, simple past came home to roost, past participle come home to roost)

present singular third person comes home to roost · participle present coming home to roost · past came home to roost · alternative the chickens come home to roost

  1. idiomaticTo have negative consequences (of an action in the past).
    1 more example

    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.

    2005 February 25, Paul Blustein, “Foreign Investment^s Flip Side; U.S. Trade Deficit Swells Along With Consumption, Debt”, in Washington Post
Cite this entry
APA

come home to roost. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20home%20to%20roost

MLA

“come home to roost.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20home%20to%20roost. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “come home to roost,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/come%20home%20to%20roost.

Source: come home to roost on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.