gotcha
- interjection
- /ˈɡɑːtʃə/
- Informal
- Sure, I gotcha.
- Yeah, gotcha
- Oh, gotcha
- Okay, gotcha
Examples
-
Okay, gotcha, I can do that.
-
(getting it now) I gotcha, I gotcha, Chief!
Fiction book (2000) -
Frank: Yeah, yeah, I gotcha.
Academic text (2017) -
But Speaking of that, I gotcha if that's what you wanted to hear.
-
All right, I gotcha.
-
Yeah, I gotcha.
Fiction book (1999) -
Okay, I gotcha.
Blog text (11) -
Yeah, gotcha.
Blog text (29) -
Boom, I gotcha.
-
When he tried to deny the mistake, I said, 'Gotcha!' to show I understood.
Synonyms
A short reply to show you are listening and understand
To say this to show you strongly agree with an obvious or unpleasant point
Say this to show agreement or acceptance
Shows that you understand or agree with someone
A short casual reply showing weak agreement or that you heard someone
Compounds
- Literature
A way reporters try to catch politicians making mistakes in a harsh way
How Aware
Surface Forms
Morphology
gotcha = got + you (semi-transparent) = got + you
Colloquial contraction of the phrase 'got you' whose meanings ('I understand' / 'I caught you') map to the senses, but the phonological reduction is non‑regular and may be unfamiliar to learners.
Etymology
Gotcha comes from the quick spoken phrase got you, where 'got' means 'caught' or 'understood'. So when someone says gotcha they are saying 'I understand' or 'I've caught you'.