catch me if you can
- idiom
- Informal
:
intenta atraparme
- He sent a cryptic message to the police, taunting them with 'catch me if you can'.
Examples
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During the chase, she yelled back at her friend, 'catch me if you can!'
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He shouted, "Catch me if you can!" as he ran away.
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As the children played in the yard, one shouted, 'Catch me if you can!' before sprinting away.
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During the game, she kept saying, "Catch me if you can!"
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As she ran through the park, she shouted, 'Catch me if you can!' to her friends.
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The children laughed and shouted, 'Catch me if you can!' as they played tag in the sun.
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He waved goodbye and playfully called, 'Catch me if you can!' as he sprinted down the street.
Synonyms
884
2.8
To catch and take control of someone or something after a chase
855
1.0
To run after someone or something to catch them
11
4.1
Start running after someone or something to catch them
4
1.9
To run after someone or something to catch them
How Hard
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'catch' (seize), 'me' (the speaker), and the conditional clause 'if you can' (if you are able), yielding a clear challenge to try to catch the speaker. The pragmatic nuance of a playful or defiant challenge is predictable from the construction and has close parallels in many languages, so a B1 learner who knows the words will readily understand it.
Etymology
Catch me if you can comes from children playing a chase game: one child runs and shouts catch me to dare the others to chase them. So, it now means 'to challenge someone to try to catch or catch up with you', often playfully or as a taunt.