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catch-up
[ kach-uhp ]
noun
- an effort to reach or pass a norm, especially after a period of delay:
After the slowdown there was a catch-up in production.
- an effort to catch up with or surpass a competitor, as in a sports contest.
- an instance of catching up.
adjective
- intended to keep up with or surpass a norm or competitor:
a catch-up pay raise to offset inflation.
catch up
verb
- tr to seize and take up (something) quickly
- whenintr, often foll by with to reach or pass (someone or something), after following
he soon caught him up
- intr; usually foll by on or with to make up for lost ground or deal with a backlog (in some specified task or activity)
- tr; often passive to absorb or involve
she was caught up in her reading
- tr to raise by or as if by fastening
the hem of her dress was caught up with ribbons
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of catch-up1
Idioms and Phrases
- play catch-up, Informal. to make a special effort to overcome a late start, a liability, or the advantage a competitor has:
After Russia launched the first space satellite, other countries had to play catch-up.
Example Sentences
She says the big growth in the number of people diagnosed with autism is because we're "playing catch-up for decades and decades of people like myself".
The appeal was successful, and funding was restored on April 11, but DeCarli is still playing catch-up.
In the past couple of weeks, they have gone out of the Champions League and FA Cup, and losing their last Premier League game has left them playing catch-up in the top-five race.
That means “catch-up” vaccination campaigns can be “very, very powerful” if an unvaccinated community gets hit hard with measles, says Mina.
And I'll admit: Sometimes I feel like I'm the one playing catch-up.
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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.
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