Meaning & use
reaping what you sowed
Last updated
Meaning
phraseidiomfigurative
Experiencing the results of your own past actions, especially unpleasant ones.
Grammar: Often used after be or in phrases like 'now he's reaping what he sowed'; the full saying is 'you reap what you sow'.
Patterns
- be reaping what you sowed
- now someone is reaping what they sowed
After years of cheating customers, the owner is reaping what he sowed.
She ignored every warning, and now she's reaping what she sowed.
The company is reaping what it sowed by cutting safety training.
Common combinations
- now he's reaping what he sowed
- He lied to everyone, and now he's reaping what he sowed.
- reap what you sow
- You reap what you sow, so treat people fairly.
- reaping the consequences
- The team is reaping the consequences of poor planning.
Synonyms and how they differ
- getting your just deserts
- Also means receiving what you deserve, but it focuses on punishment and sounds more formal.
- paying the price
- Emphasizes the cost or suffering rather than the idea of planting and harvest.
Word family
Commonly confused: reaping what you sowed or reaping what you sew?
reaping what you sowed vs reaping what you sew
A common spelling mistake: 'sew' means to join cloth with a needle, while 'sow' means to plant seeds.
Practice
Choose the sentence that uses the expression correctly.
Choose one answer.
The expression describes suffering results that follow bad choices, so the overspending example fits. The helping example describes a good result, and the other options reverse or misuse the fixed order of the saying.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “reaping what you sowed”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.