Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to catch a cold

to catch a cold

23 1.0
To become sick with a common illness that makes your nose and throat sore
  • phrasal verb
  • /kæʧ ə koʊld/
: resfriarse
  • Last week, I caught a cold, and I've been sneezing ever since.
  • sneezing when you catch a cold
  • going to catch a cold
  • catching a cold or the flu

Let's say you get sick and uh oh, I caught a cold, I caught a flu.

Autoplay Next

Examples

Synonyms

to get sick
vsto catch a cold
396 1.0

Become ill and have signs like fever or cough

is specific to a mild nose and throat viral infection rather than any illness
to catch cold
vsto catch a cold
40 1.0

To become ill with a cold after being cold or near someone sick

is the same illness but defined generally as a mild viral infection
to catch paraflu
vsto catch a cold
8.1

To get a mild illness that feels like the flu

describes a different mild nose and throat viral infection, not influenza-like
to catch a bronch
vsto catch a cold
  • Archaic
9.9

To get a sickness in your chest that makes you cough a lot

refers to a milder upper nose and throat infection, not airway inflammation

Antonyms

to recover
865 2.5

Get back to a normal state after a loss, for example health or money

How Sick

pneumonia
  • Specialized
115 4.3
to catch a cold
23 1.0
chill
61 1.0

Surface Forms

catch a cold infinitive
catching a cold present participle
catches a cold third person singular
caught a cold past
caught a cold past participle

Morphology

catch + a + cold

The meaning 'to become ill with a cold' is directly derivable from combining 'catch' (to become affected) with 'cold' (a mild illness); the indefinite article 'a' does not change the compositional meaning. This construction is common and has close parallels in many languages (e.g., French attraper un rhume, Spanish coger/atrapar un resfriado), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents will readily understand it.

Etymology

Catch a cold uses the simple picture of catch (like catching a ball) and cold (the chill people thought would make them sick). So it feels as if the illness comes to you and you 'catch' it, which is why the phrase means 'to become ill'.