Word.ws English Dictionary

catching someone napping

catching someone napping is the present participle and gerund 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 catching someone napping

What is catching someone napping the present participle and gerund of?
Catching someone napping is the present participle and gerund of catch someone napping.

Words near catching someone napping in the dictionary

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

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: catching 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.

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