Catch-as-catch-can

adj, adv

adj, adv ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Only when possible or when the opportunity presents itself; intermittent. idiomatic

    "My efforts lately have been catch-as-catch-can, not carefully planned."

  2. 2
    Relating to catch wrestling, a folk style of wrestling with minimal restrictions.

    "In Lancashire and the north of Ireland, the catch-hold or catch-as-catch-can system still finds favour."

Adverb
  1. 1
    Ad hoc; in any way possible.

Example

More examples

"My efforts lately have been catch-as-catch-can, not carefully planned."

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.