cotton on

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cotton on

verb cottons on · cottoning on · cottoned on

intransitive To realize; come to understand. “That is what most people in the country have thought about the Tory party for decades. […] Tory MPs largely do not care about these poorer people. They don’t care about the NHS. And the public has kind of cottoned on to that.”
Similar: catch on, glom on

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MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX

@misc{cotton_on_2026,
  title = {cotton on},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/cotton%20on},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}