phrasal verb · neutral
catch up (on)
UK/kætʃ ʌp (ɒn)/US/kætʃ ʌp (ɑn)/CATCH·up·(on)
to reach the same standard or level as others after having been behind; to do work that you did not do earlier
Examples
“I missed two lectures, so I spent the weekend catching up on notes.”
“She had to catch up with her classmates after being ill.”
“We use weekends to catch up on reading for seminars.”
Band 8 sentence
“After returning from illness, I devoted two weeks to catching up on lectures and problem sets.”
Collocations
- catch up on work/notes/reading
- catch up with classmates
- catch up by doing something
Word family
Common mistakes
catch up the notes→catch up on the notes
catch with classmates→catch up with classmates
Say it for a higher band
5finish missed work→6get back on track→7+catch up (on)
Synonyms
make up for lost time
get back on track
Easily confused
keep up with
“It's hard to keep up with all the homework when you're very busy.”
fall behind
“He fell behind after missing several classes.”
Related words
Learn this word with the rest of its set, and get reminded at the right time.
In Study
Learn it with its set