Catch-22
noun/ˌkætʃ ˌtwɛnti ˈtuː/
Etymology
Coined by American author Joseph Heller in 1961 in his novel Catch-22, in which the main character feigns madness in order to avoid dangerous combat missions, but his desire to avoid them is taken to prove his sanity.
Definitions
A difficult situation from which there is no escape because it involves mutually…
A difficult situation from which there is no escape because it involves mutually conflicting or dependent conditions.
- 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.
Alternative letter-case form of Catch-22.
- 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.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for Catch-22. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA