catch on

The idiom "catch on" has two primary uses: understanding something after some effort, and gaining popularity or acceptance.

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Definition

B2General

(informal)To understand something, often after some effort.

Example

It took him a while, but he finally caught on to the joke.
She didn't catch on to the new software immediately.

B2General

(informal)To become popular or widely accepted.

Example

The new fashion trend quickly caught on.
That song is starting to catch on with the younger crowd.

Similar

Terms that have similar or relatively close meanings to "catch on":

catch fire catch out catch it catch up pick up on cotton on to get on catch step caught on the hop take hold get on to catch the sun catch a cold catch a case hit off jump on hop on catch a wave catch the bus hit upon snap up hit on get it on pick up get with get hold of hook in