catch on
Britishverb
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to become popular or fashionable
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to grasp mentally; understand
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Understand, as in Aunt Mary doesn't catch on to any jokes . The verb to catch alone was used with this meaning from Shakespeare's time, on being added in the late 1800s. Also see get it , def. 2.
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Become popular, as in This new dance is really beginning to catch on . [Late 1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Yardeni: It is worth watching the credit markets, since problems there tend to surface before stocks catch on.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
But Bogle had reason to be confident the product would catch on eventually.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026
It's a sweltering summer's day and fishermen are unloading their catch on the docks.
From BBC ● Jul. 2, 2026
And remember when we were certain soccer could never catch on in this country?
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 28, 2026
I patiently explained all this to Mr. Dussel, but I was surprised to see how slow he is to catch on.
From "The Diary of a Young Girl" by Anne Frank
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
