Word.ws English Dictionary

catches someone napping

catches someone napping is the third-person singular simple present indicative of catch someone napping.

Meaning of catch someone napping

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, informal) To take advantage of someone's inattention.
    • Wigan keeper Ali Al Habsi was forced to deny Stewart Downing and Bent in quick succession, and again got down well to deny Bent after a Young free-kick had caught Steven Caldwell napping.2011 January 25, Les Roopanarine, “Wigan 1 - 2 Aston Villa”, in BBC

Questions about catches someone napping

What is catches someone napping the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Catches someone napping is the third-person singular simple present indicative of catch someone napping.

Words near catches someone napping in the dictionary

  1. catches sight of
  2. catches some rays
  3. catches some z's
  4. catches some zs
  5. catches someone at their own game
  6. catches someone napping
  7. catches someone with a hand in the cookie jar
  8. catches someone with their pants down
  9. catches someone's drift
  10. catches someone's eye
  11. catches someone's fancy

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catches someone napping (page history and authors); catch someone napping (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:

Cite this entry: “catches someone napping.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catches_someone_napping. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.