catchphrase
See also: catch-phrase and catch phrase
English
Alternative forms
- catch phrase, catch-phrase
Etymology
From catch + phrase, from the notion that the phrase will catch in the mind of the user.
Noun
catchphrase (plural catchphrases)
- A repeated expression, often originating in popular culture.
- 2003 [1985], Eric Partridge, “Introduction to the First Editon”, in Paul Beale, editor, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, second edition, Routledge, →ISBN:
- Frequently, catch phrases are not, in the grammarians' sense, phrases at all, but sentences. Catch phrases, like the closely linked proverbial sayings, are self-contained, as, obviously, clichés are too. Catch phrases are usually more pointed and ‘human’ than clichés, although the former sometimes arises from, and often they generate, the latter. Occasionally, catch phrases stem from too famous quotations.
- 2005 May 14, “Disney's Tigger voice dies at 82”, in BBC News website:
- For Tigger, he created a slight lisp and laugh, crediting his British wife with Tigger's "TTFN" catchprase - "ta-ta for now", itself coming from BBC radio comedy It's That Man Again.
- 2018 September 18, Brian Logan, “Catchphrase comedy is dead. Am I bovvered?”, in The Guardian:
- The former head of BBC comedy claims catchphrases are out of fashion. But as Corporal Jones might say, ‘Don’t panic!’
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- A signature phrase of a particular person or group.
Synonyms
- signature phrase
- catchword
Translations
a repeated expression
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Trivia
This is one of the few common words in English with six consonant letters in a row. Others include watchstrap, latchstring and sightscreen.