Word.ws English Dictionary

catch-22

/ˌkætʃ ˌtwɛnti ˈtuː/

catch-22 is the alternative letter-case form of Catch-22.

Noun capitalized: Catch-22

Catch-22 (plural Catch-22s)

  1. (idiomatic) A difficult situation from which there is no escape because it involves mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
    • For us it’s been a real Catch-22: when we have the time to take a vacation, we don’t have enough money, and when we have enough money, we don’t have the time.
    • Herein lies my personal “Catch 22”; the choice between three hours sleep and some discomfort or six hours sleep and real pain. Usually I choose the lesser evil of insomnia because in addition to the pain at 6am, I am incapacitated by the hangover from the sedative.1988, E[dward] J[ames] Moran Campbell, Not Always on the Level, [London]: British Medical Journal, →ISBN, page 194

Synonyms of catch-22

Forms of catch-22

pluralcatch-22s
pluralCatch-22s
alternative formcatch-22

Origin of catch-22

Coined by American writer Joseph Heller in 1961 in his novel Catch-22, in which the main character feigns madness in order to avoid dangerous combat missions, but his desire to avoid them is taken to prove his sanity.

Questions about catch-22

What does catch-22 mean?
Catch-22 means a difficult situation from which there is no escape because it involves mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
What is catch-22 the alternative letter-case form of?
Catch-22 is the alternative letter-case form of Catch-22.
What part of speech is catch-22?
Catch-22 is a noun.
How do you pronounce catch-22?
Catch-22 is pronounced /ˌkætʃ ˌtwɛnti ˈtuː/.
What is the plural of catch-22?
The plural of catch-22 is catch-22s.

Words near catch-22 in the dictionary

  1. catch you on the flip side
  2. catch Z's
  3. catch'd
  4. catch-'em-alive-O
  5. catch-'em-alive-Os
  6. catch-22
  7. catch-22s
  8. catch-all
  9. catch-all parties
  10. catch-all party
  11. catch-all phrase

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch-22 (page history and authors); Catch-22 (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Catch-22.wav.

Cite this entry: “catch-22.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catch-22. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.