catchword

noun

catch·​word ˈkach-ˌwərd How to pronounce catchword (audio)
ˈkech-
1
a
: a word under the right-hand side of the last line on a book page that repeats the first word on the following page
2

Examples of catchword in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web What begins as a low-energy list of jokes poking fun at Deborah’s bad parenting, each ending with a recurring line in which DJ calls her mom the C-word, morphs into a star-making performance for the amateur stand-up comic — with her crass refrain becoming a crowd-pleasing catchword. Tyler Coates, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 June 2024 And there will be more games like that this season, until consistency and cohesion become reality and not just catchwords. Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times, 9 Oct. 2023 German engineering, once a catchword for excellence, has now gained a set of decidedly undesirable connotations. Bernhard Rieger, Foreign Affairs, 4 Oct. 2015 Reliability has become the catchword for Texas’ electric industry since February 2021. Dallas News, 18 Aug. 2022 Said to be a mashup of the words snowy and neckdown, the catchphrase or catchword was reportedly popularized via Twitter in 2014. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 20 Jan. 2022 Narcissism has become a catchword to describe pretty much anyone who's vain, self-obsessed, and craves the spotlight. Health.com, 20 Apr. 2021 Fueled by international competition and the reality of robust economic expansion in many nations, growth had quickly become the catchword of the day in economics departments and government bureaucracies. Christopher F. Jones, The New Republic, 1 Oct. 2019 Now, in the era of Deng Xiaoping with reform the catchword, politics seemed muddled and mixed up in a new way, and Li was acquiring a name as a conservative. The Economist, 25 July 2019

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'catchword.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1693, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of catchword was in 1693

Dictionary Entries Near catchword

Cite this Entry

“Catchword.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catchword. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.

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