Word.ws English Dictionary

catch lacking

catch lacking verb: to catch off guard, unprepared, or in an embarrassing situation.

Verb

catch lacking (third-person singular simple present catches lacking, present participle catching lacking, simple past and past participle caught lacking)

  1. (slang, transitive, African-American Vernacular) To catch off guard, unprepared, or in an embarrassing situation.

Forms of catch lacking

third-person singular presentcatches lacking
present participlecatching lacking
past participlecaught lacking
pastcaught lacking

Origin of catch lacking

Perhaps an eggcorn for catch napping.

Questions about catch lacking

What does catch lacking mean?
Catch lacking means to catch off guard, unprepared, or in an embarrassing situation.
What part of speech is catch lacking?
Catch lacking is a verb.
What is the past tense of catch lacking?
The past tense of catch lacking is caught lacking.

Words near catch lacking in the dictionary

  1. catch hold
  2. catch in 4k
  3. catch in possession
  4. catch it
  5. catch it in the neck
  6. catch lacking
  7. catch me
  8. catch napping
  9. catch no ball
  10. catch no balls
  11. catch of the day

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catch lacking (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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