catchall
Americannoun
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a bag, basket, or other receptacle for odds and ends.
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something that covers a wide variety of items or situations.
The list is just a catchall of things I want to see or do on vacation.
adjective
Etymology
Origin of catchall
1830–40, noun use of verb phrase catch all
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.
There’s an acknowledgment of responsibility, not for specific infractions, but for the popular catchall of “distraction and distress.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
The term is less taxonomically specific and more of a catchall, used to refer to any photosynthesizing organism that isn’t a plant.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
The sources familiar with the Perez photo case said the officer was accused of “conduct unbecoming,” widely considered a catchall category for inappropriate behavior under department regulations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026
Globalization has become a catchall explanation for a host of Americans’ troubles, from factory closures to political polarization.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
They were also encouraged not to settle for old-fashioned and “bourgeois” gender roles—“bourgeois” being a catchall term for the upper middle classes of Imperial Russia who’d aspired to wealth and luxury.
From "A Thousand Sisters" by Elizabeth Wein
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.
