catchword

[kach-wurd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR catchword ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a memorable or effective word or phrase that is repeated so often that it becomes a slogan, as in a political campaign or in advertising a product.

Also called headword, guide word. a word printed at the top of a page in a dictionary or other reference book to indicate the first or last entry or article on that page.Compare running head.

a device, used especially in old books, to assist the binder in assembling signatures by inserting at the foot of each page the first word of the following page.

keyword(def 3).

Origin of catchword

First recorded in 1720–30; catch + word

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for catchword

byword, slogan, catchphrase, maxim, refrain, watchword, shibboleth, password

Examples from the Web for catchword

Contemporary Examples of catchword

The idea that jazz has become a catchword for pomposity is painful for those of us who care deeply about this music.
What’s With This Uncool Surge in Jazz Bashing?
Ted Gioia
November 2, 2014

Historical Examples of catchword

Every term of endearment has become a catchword, every caress mocks us from the hoardings.
Tea-Table Talk
Jerome K. Jerome
Punch only saw in it "the catchword of a self-seeking swaggerer."
Mr. Punch's History of Modern England Vol. III of IV
Charles L. Graves
“Unclean,” he muttered, recalling a catchword of the world he gazed upon.
Day and Night Stories
Algernon Blackwood
If you are busy, at least give me a line, and the catchword for the part I am to act.
Dangerous Connections, v. 1, 2, 3, 4
Pierre Choderlos de Laclos
It was simple enough as soon as I saw the catchword in the 'Wanted' line.
Average Jones
Samuel Hopkins Adams

British Dictionary definitions for catchword

catchword

noun

a word or phrase made temporarily popular, esp by a political campaign; slogan

a word printed as a running head in a reference book

theatre an actor's cue to speak or enter

the first word of a printed or typewritten page repeated at the bottom of the page preceding

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for catchword

1730, "the first word of the following page inserted at the lower right-hand corner of each page of a book," from catch (v.) + word (n.); extended to "word caught up and repeated" (especially in the political sense) by 1795. The literal sense is extinct; the figurative sense thrives.