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Catch-22
[ kach-twen-tee-too ]
catch-22
noun
- a situation in which a person is frustrated by a paradoxical rule or set of circumstances that preclude any attempt to escape from them
- a situation in which any move that a person can make will lead to trouble
Catch-22
- (1961) A war novel by the American author Joseph Heller. “Catch-22” is a provision in army regulations; it stipulates that a soldier's request to be relieved from active duty can be accepted only if he is mentally unfit to fight. Any soldier, however, who has the sense to ask to be spared the horrors of war is obviously mentally sound, and therefore must stay to fight.
Notes
Word History and Origins
Origin of Catch-221
Word History and Origins
Origin of Catch-221
Idioms and Phrases
A no-win dilemma or paradox, similar to damned if I do, damned if I don't . For example, You can't get a job without experience, but you can't get experience unless you have a job—it's Catch-22 . The term gained currency as the title of a 1961 war novel by Joseph Heller, who referred to an Air Force rule whereby a pilot continuing to fly combat missions without asking for relief is regarded as insane, but is considered sane enough to continue flying if he does make such a request.Example Sentences
Yeah, those books: The Things They Carried, The Hunters, Catch-22.
It can result in a Catch-22 for ambitious upstarts: internships offer a foot in the door—but at what economic cost?
This is an earnest book, a rare thing for a post-Catch-22 war novel of the literary ilk.
It is for sure a Catch-22, but who wants to be the person beating their head against the wall?
I have to say, of all possible reactions to Catch-22, this is one that makes least sense to me.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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