catch
- noun
- /kæʧ/
- Informal
- When the offer seemed too good to be true, I started to wonder what the catch was.
- Catch-22
- a catch-22 situation
And there's one last catch, the price.
- And there's one last catch, the price.
- I told you there was a catch more often than not.
- But the but the catch was is I obviously lived it right?
Examples
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And there's one last catch, the price.
-
The catch is that you gotta take a shower, little man.
-
But more like what is the catch here, right?
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I told you there was a catch more often than not.
-
But you know what the catch is.
-
There is a catch: Quality work needs to be completed on schedule and within budget.
Academic text (2012) -
There's a catch to everything these days, huh?
-
What's the catch?
-
There's a catch.
-
That's the catch.
Synonyms
An unexpected problem that is not obvious at first
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
To become very sick from being outside in the cold, often said as a warning
- Offensive
To find a dead person, often during police work or as slang for killing someone
- Informal
To not pay attention and miss what is happening around you, for example because you are daydreaming
- Informal
Notice someone being careless when they should be paying attention
Give something small to get something much bigger later
Compounds
- Specialized
A player signals and catches a punt without running and cannot be tackled
- Specialized
Animals and other sea life that are caught by accident while people fish for other species
A 2002 American film by Steven Spielberg starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks
- Specialized
A small fenced area that holds animals like sheep or cattle for a short time
- Specialized
A quick sound made by briefly closing and opening the vocal cords before a vowel
- Jargon
A baseball play where an outfielder runs and grabs a ball very close to the ground
How Serious
Surface Forms
Etymology
Catch can mean a hidden problem because it is like a small trap that seizes you later, so a 'catch' in a deal is the thing that makes it less free or safe.