catch in the act

Idioms and Phrases

see under catch red-handed .

Example Sentences

In “Dinosaurs,” apocalyptic reminders literally fall from the sky in the form of birds that turn up dead in the desert, shot at night by an unknown poacher whom Gil is determined to catch in the act.

From Los Angeles Times

Virginia Woolf says somewhere that Austen is the hardest writer to catch in the act of greatness.

From The Guardian

But as Virginia Woolf observed about Austen, “Of all great writers she is the most difficult to catch in the act of greatness.”

From New York Times

But the “Invisible Circle” proved as elusive to catch in the act as that mystical moniker suggested.

From Slate

The school board had never adopted “catch in the act” as its official policy, Putnam wrote.

From Washington Post

Related Words

• startle