Word.ws English Dictionary

catch-phrase

catch-phrase is the alternative form of catchphrase.

Meaning of catchphrase

Noun

catchphrase (plural catchphrases)

  1. A repeated expression, often originating in popular culture.
    • Frequently, catch phrases are not, in the grammarians' sense, phrases at all, but sentences. Catch phrases, like the closely linked proverbial sayings, are self-contained, as, obviously, clichés are too. Catch phrases are usually more pointed and ‘human’ than clichés, although the former sometimes...2003 [1985], Eric Partridge, “Introduction to the First Editon”, in Paul Beale, editor, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN
  2. A signature phrase of a particular person or group.
    • Instead, bro country songs string together a formulaic subset of tropes about beer sipping, truck driving, sunglasses wearing, unpaved roads, and tanned girls in shorts, typically building to a predictable catchphrase singsong chorus.2018, Bill C. Malone, Tracey E. W. Laird, Country Music USA, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 547

Forms of catch-phrase

pluralcatch-phrases

Questions about catch-phrase

What is catch-phrase the alternative form of?
Catch-phrase is the alternative form of catchphrase.

Words near catch-phrase in the dictionary

  1. catch-breaths
  2. catch-coldy
  3. catch-dog
  4. catch-meadow
  5. catch-meadows
  6. catch-phrase
  7. catch-phrases
  8. catch-pole
  9. catch-poles
  10. catch-rope
  11. catch-ropes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch-phrase (page history and authors); catchphrase (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.

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