catch on
verb
Simple meaning
Understand, usually after some initial difficulty.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kachahnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkæˈtʃɑn
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
Understand, usually after some initial difficulty
intransitiveidiomatic
To understand; to begin to understand; to realize.
intransitiveidiomatic
To become popular; to become commonplace; to become the standard.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Understand, usually after some initial difficulty
Used this way, catch on is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.