catch up
— phrasal verb with catch uk/kætʃ/us/kætʃ/verb caught, caught
(REACH SAME STANDARD)
C1 to reach the same quality or standard as someone or something else:
Will Western industry ever catch up with Japanese innovations?
He was off school for a while and is finding it hard to catch up.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Surpassing in quality or number
- beat
- catch
- compare
- crown
- eclipse
- exceed
- go one better idiom
- leave sb standing idiom
- north
- outperform
- outran
- outsell
- outshine
- outstrip
- shame
- tower
- tower above/over sth
- transcend
- upstage
- writ large idiom
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(DO SOMETHING)
B2 to do something you did not have time to do earlier:
She's staying late at the office to catch up with/on some reports.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Dealing with things or people
- attend to sb/sth
- beard the lion (in his/her den) idiom
- come up against sth
- come/get to grips with sth idiom
- confront
- cut
- firefight
- firefighting
- get sth in
- inherit
- jump-start
- overcome
- process
- reckon
- reckon with sb/sth
- see about sth
- see to sth/sb
- set about sth
- turn
- weather
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(DISCUSS)
B2 to learn or discuss the latest news:
Let's go for a coffee - I need to catch up on all the gossip.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Debate & discussion
- arena
- compare
- conciliate
- dialectic
- float around
- fly
- fly around
- get down to business idiom
- kick sth around
- negotiable
- negotiate
- parley
- reason with sb
- sophistry
- speak
- talk sth out
- talk sth over
- thrash
- toss
- weigh in
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