catch on
Britishverb
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to become popular or fashionable
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to grasp mentally; understand
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Understand, as in Aunt Mary doesn't catch on to any jokes . The verb to catch alone was used with this meaning from Shakespeare's time, on being added in the late 1800s. Also see get it , def. 2.
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Become popular, as in This new dance is really beginning to catch on . [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“What catches on is completely unpredictable, there’s almost a mysterious alchemy to it. What’s clear is this: The regime hasn’t pacified them.”
That first year, though, I had many moments with my boss where he seemed impatient with me for not catching on quickly.
From MarketWatch
Not all of the changes will catch on—but that’s also the point.
Agentforce has been growing but some investors worry it isn’t catching on fast enough.
“But nothing happened when I spun! I didn’t catch on fire or get attacked by mice! I just made gold! Fat skeins of gold that could feed the whole village!”
From Literature
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
