Meaning of Catch-22 | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A difficult situation from which there is no escape because it involves mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
   idiomatic
2. Alternative letter-case form of Catch-22.
   alt-of

Equivalents

Examples

“For us it’s been a real Catch-22: when we have the time to take a vacation, we don’t have enough money, and when we have enough money, we don’t have the time.”

“Herein lies my personal “Catch 22”; the choice between three hours sleep and some discomfort or six hours sleep and real pain. Usually I choose the lesser evil of insomnia because in addition to the pain at 6am, I am incapacitated by the hangover from the sedative.”

“Overall, the subgrouping issue in S[ino-]T[ibetan] studies is plagued by a familiar Catch-22. Until a more complete reconstruction of P[roto-]S[ino-]T[ibetan] exists, it is difficult to accurately identify shared innovations. Yet, without a clear subgrouping, it is difficult to properly weight and evaluate data from the daughter languages in order to refine PST reconstructions.”

“Passengers may find themselves in a catch-22 situation, unable to buy a ticket for any number of reasons, ranging from an out-of-order ticket vending machine to a lengthy queue to use one, and yet then fall foul of the penalty fare regime.”

CEFR level