catching
Americanadjective
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tending to be transmitted from one person to another; contagious or infectious.
a disease that is catching;
His enthusiasm is catching.
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attractive; fascinating; captivating; alluring.
a catching personality.
adjective
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infectious
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attractive; captivating
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of catching
late Middle English word dating back to 1375–1425; see origin at catch, -ing 2
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.
But the data surrounding colon-cancer rates is alarming, and getting screened is crucial to preventing colon cancer or catching it at an early stage.
From MarketWatch • Jun. 4, 2026
Retourne said a decade ago, when BlaBlaCar first launched in India, even "after two or three years, it just wasn't catching on".
From Barron's • May 31, 2026
Retired farmer Damian Ryan, 67, has welcomed the move after spending weeks catching mice in his home and his shed at his farm in Morawa, about 370km north of Perth.
From BBC • May 30, 2026
And catching it out in front also stops the ball’s own movement before it gets too far out of the zone.
From Los Angeles Times • May 29, 2026
“Now that we’ve had a good laugh,” he said, “I think it’s time we started thinking about catching those monkeys. We can’t let them get away with stealing a fellow’s britches.”
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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.
