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received

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receive (one's) just deserts

To receive that which one deserves, especially a punishment or unfavorable outcome. (Note: The phrase is often misspelled as "just desserts," due to the pronunciation of "deserts" and "desserts" being the same in this context.) The CEO cheated his clients out of nearly $4 million, but he received his just deserts when he was stripped of everything he owned and sent to prison.

See also: desert, just, receive

Received Pronunciation

An accent of British English derived from that of the British upper class in the early 20th century. It is commonly used in public broadcasting, as well as in schools such as Oxford and Cambridge. If you want people to take you seriously, you need to lose your country accent and adopt the Received Pronunciation. Studying at Cambridge has caused me to start speaking in the Received Pronunciation.

See also: received

the conventional/received wisdom

knowledge or information that people generally believe is true, although in fact it is often false The conventional wisdom is that marriage makes a relationship more secure, but as the divorce rates show, this is not necessarily true.

See also: conventional, wisdom