What does the phrase he had the last laugh mean?
When someone says that “he had the last laugh” it basically means that the person eventually had some great success, even if there were other people in doubt or if that person had some failures or setbacks before he was successful and he ‘won’ something. If you think of the actual words in the phrase “he had the last laugh” then it makes even more sense – there may have been other people who ‘laughed’ before ‘he’ did, but eventually ‘he’ was the winner, and for that reason ‘he’ had the ‘last laugh’.
Example of ‘he had the last laugh’ in a sentence
"Jim lost the longest point in the tennis match, but even though he lost that point, Jim still won the match. So, Jim had the last laugh."