Dictionary

catchphrase en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio

Etymology

From catch + phrase, from the notion that the phrase will catch in the mind of the user.

Meanings

1. A repeated expression, often originating in popular culture.
   • 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. 2005 May 14, “Disney's Tigger voice dies at 82”, in BBC News website:
   • 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. 2003 [1985], Eric Partridge, “Introduction to the First Editon”, in Paul Beale, editor, A Dictionary of Catch Phrases, 2nd edition, Routledge, →ISBN:
   • The former head of BBC comedy claims catchphrases are out of fashion. But as Corporal Jones might say, ‘Don’t panic!’ 2018 September 18, Brian Logan, “Catchphrase comedy is dead. Am I bovvered?”, in The Guardian:
2. A signature phrase of a particular person or group.
   • Instead, bro country songs string together a formulaic subset of tropes about beer sipping, truck driving, sunglasses wearing, unpaved roads, and tanned girls in shorts, typically building to a predictable catchphrase singsong chorus. 2018, Bill C. Malone, Tracey E. W. Laird, Country Music USA, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 547:

Forms

Synonyms

signature phrase · catchword

Translations (23)

cmn 口號 /口号 (a repeated expression) · fr phrase fétiche (a repeated expression) · ko 캐치프레이즈 (a repeated expression) · es latiguillo (a repeated expression) · pl slogan (a repeated expression) · de Ausspruch (a repeated expression) · cs hláška (a repeated expression) · nl catchphrase (a repeated expression) · de geflügelte Worte (a repeated expression) · pt bordão (a repeated expression) · ja キャッチフレーズ (a repeated expression) · et lööklause (a repeated expression) · hi सूत्रवाक्य (a repeated expression) · hi तकिया-कलाम (a repeated expression) · mi kīanga teremau (a repeated expression) · pl powiedzonko (a repeated expression) · ar شِعار (a repeated expression) · fr réplique culte (a repeated expression) · fi iskulause (a repeated expression) · ru бро́ская фра́за (a repeated expression) · ru крыла́тая фра́за (a repeated expression) · ru популя́рное выраже́ние (a repeated expression) · ca frase ganxo (a repeated expression)