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catch on

UK/kæt͡ʃ ˈɒn/US/kɛt͡ʃ ˈɑn/
phraseB22 meaningsNot compared — the two pools are counted one word at a time, so a phrase has no score

To catch on is to understand — or to become popular. Two senses that have nothing to do with each other.

The understanding sense is about a person and usually about somebody slow, so he was quick to catch on is a compliment and it took him a while to catch on is not. The popularity sense is about things, so a word, a fashion or a product catches on when people take it up, and the phrase never quite caught on is one of the gentlest ways of describing a failure.

Definitions of catch on

  1. 1phraseunderstandTo come to understand something.B2

    “It took me a moment to catch on.”

  2. 2phrasecatch onTo become popular or widely adopted.C1

    “The idea never really did catch on.”

Where it comes from

  1. Proto-Indo-European

    *kap-

  2. English, today

    catch on

From catch + on.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Phrasal Verbs, A Man Called Ove

First appears in chapter 28 of A Man Called Ove.

Practise this word