catch up with sb
— phrasal verb with catch uk/kætʃ/us/kætʃ/verb caught, caught
(CAUSE PROBLEMS)
C2 If something bad that you have done or that has been happening to you catches up with you, it begins to cause problems for you:
His lies will catch up with him one day.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Causing anxiety and worry
- alarming
- bite
- come back to bite sb idiom
- come back/home to roost idiom
- concerning
- flap
- get/go beyond a joke idiom
- give sb the jitters idiom
- gnaw
- harass
- haunt
- joke
- sweat
- tense
- troubling
- unnerve
- unsettling
- weigh
- weigh on sb/sth
- weigh sb down
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(PUNISH)
If people in authority catch up with you, they discover that you have been doing something wrong and often punish you for it:
They had been selling stolen cars for years before the police caught up with them.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Punishing & punishments
- bar
- be brought/called to account idiom
- boot
- bring
- bum rap
- carrot
- chastise
- clobber
- crucify
- kick
- kick (some) ass idiom
- non-custodial
- parking ticket
- penal
- penalize
- string
- strip
- throw
- throw the book at sb idiom
- wheel clamp
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