Catch-22 meaning
What does the saying 'Catch-22' mean?
Idiom: Catch-22
Meaning:
Catch-22 is a situation where conflicting rules make the desired outcome impossible. It comes from a novel by the American author Joseph Heller, in which pilots would not have to fly missions if they were mentally ill, but not wanting to fly dangerous missions was held to be proof of sanity, so they had to fly anyway.
('Catch 22', without the hyphen, is also used.)
Similar Idioms
- Sprat to catch a mackerel
- Catch hell
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- Set a thief to catch a thief
- Catch someone on the hop
- Catch as catch can
- Catch someone red-handed
- Don't catch your chickens before they're hatched
- You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar
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See also:
- View examples in Google: Catch-22
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