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Verb: catch on
Usage: informal
  1. Understand or realize, usually after some time or initial difficulty
    "She didn't know what her classmates were plotting but finally caught on";
    - get wise [informal], get onto, tumble [informal], latch on [informal], cotton on [informal], twig [Brit, informal], get it, cop on [Brit, informal]
     
  2. Become popular
    "This fashion caught on in Paris"

Derived forms: catching on, catches on, caught on

Type of: apprehend, change, compass, comprehend, dig [informal], get the picture, grasp, grok [N. Amer, informal], savvy