to catch on
60
3.2
- phrasal verb
- /kæʧ ɑn/
:
popularizarse
- The idea of working remotely really caught on during the pandemic.
- never catch on
- really catch on
- yet to catch on
When these things didn't catch on the next year, they were gone.
- When these things didn't catch on the next year, they were gone.
- Some quickly caught on and many have been.
- And Despite that, the program caught on and, and the rest is history.
- You now, you know, once it catches on, you can't say anything to them.
- It hasn't really caught on, but maybe it has potential.
- And so I think that's why it's caught on.
- It's a later idea, and it caught on.
- I think that doctors and functional medicine now is starting to catch on, right?
- It's the new trend and catching on with young men and boys.
- But this sort of this, this appeal to victimhood catches on.
- Once those books caught on, he decides that he's going to become a full time writer.
- There were companies like Myspace and Friendster, which were exactly the same as Facebook but didn't catch on as well.
- But long before it went on the air, it was one of those shows that was predicted to catch on.
Examples
-
No single term has caught on for this new category of objects.
Academic text (1995) -
It'll catch on like wildfire.
-
And Despite that, the program caught on and, and the rest is history.
-
Some quickly caught on and many have been.
-
Now, Wall Street's going to catch on to it very quickly.
-
Well, maybe your way will catch on, hm?
-
In truth, however, The Fred Allen Show was in trouble even before television caught on.
Academic text (2007) -
The ideas aren't new, but they have yet to catch on in a big way.
Academic text (2002) -
It hasn't really caught on, but maybe it has potential.
-
Bussman believes that the system eventually will catch on with other retailers and municipalities because of these advantages.
Academic text (2003)
Synonyms
750
1.6
To become known by many people
86
3.0
To become successful or popular very quickly
64
6.6
To become popular or common, like a new fashion
53
4.2
To become popular online for a short time
22
2.4
Many people start to like or use something
9
4.2
Begin to be accepted or used by many people
5
3.7
To become very popular quickly, especially online
Antonyms
How Popular
60
3.2
11
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
catch + on
The sense 'to begin to understand' is partly inferable from 'catch' in the sense of 'grasp' or 'seize' (a mental grasp), so a learner who knows 'catch' can form a plausible link. However, the particle 'on' and the phrasal-verb construction yield a conventionalized meaning (and the verb is also used to mean 'become popular'), so the exact sense is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Catch on may come from the picture of something getting stuck on a hook or peg: the action catch plus on gives the idea of an object holding fast and staying where others can see it, so people copy it. So, it means 'to become popular'.