catch up

English

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catch up

verb catches up · catching up · caught up · catch-up

transitive To pick up suddenly. Oscar stopped the horses and waved to Carl, who caught up his hat and ran through the melon patch to join them.
transitive To entangle (something). The speaker wires have got caught up with the wires from the lights.
broadly, transitive To involve in (something); to embroil. That's why she got caught up in addiction.
intransitive To be brought up to date with news. I hadn't seen her for so long. It was great to catch up.
transitive To bring (someone) up to date with the news. After Alice's vacation, her boss caught her up on policy changes.
ambitransitive To reach something that had been ahead. Rose was three seconds behind, but managed to catch up with the race leader and eventually won.
intransitive To compensate for or make up a deficiency. After a slow start, they've been catching up lately.
intransitive, of some inevitable phenomenon, with with To finally overtake or overpower (someone or something) after a long period of approaching or threatening (them or it). (Said especially of self-destructive behaviours that take years to bring about negative outcomes.) His years of drinking were catching up with him.

noun catch ups · catch-up

alternative, countable, uncountable Alternative spelling of catch-up

Translations

Every language

verb to bring someone else up to date with the news

Español	poner al día, poner al corriente, poner al tanto de, enterar

verb to finally reach something inevitable

Español	pasarle / purrirle / apurrirle factura

verb to entangle

Español	enredar

verb to be brought up to date with news

Español	enterarse, ponerse al día, ponerse al corriente, ponerse al tanto de
Français	prendre des nouvelles
Deutsch	aufholen

verb to reach something that had been ahead

Español	alcanzar, ponerse al nivel de, emparejar con
日本語	追い付く oitsuku
Português	alcançar, recuperar o atraso
Français	atteindre, rattraper
Deutsch	einholen
Русский	догоня́ть dogonjátʹ, догна́ть dognátʹ
עברית	הִשִּׂיג hisíg, הִדְבִּיק hidbíq

verb to compensate for or make up a deficiency — see also make up

Русский	навёрстывать navjórstyvatʹ, наверста́ть naverstátʹ

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MLA

"catch up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/catch%20up. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

catch up. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/catch%20up

Chicago

"catch up." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/catch%20up.

BibTeX

@misc{catch_up_2026,
  title = {catch up},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/catch%20up},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}