catch up
phr. v..phr. v.. to reach the same level or place as someone who was ahead of you; to talk with a friend you haven't seen in a while to learn their news.
phr. v.. to reach the same quality, status, or physical position as a precursor; also used intransitively to describe a social interaction involving the exchange of recent personal information.
I need to catch up on my emails.
We haven't seen each other in years, so let's have coffee and catch up this weekend.
Developing nations are investing heavily in technology to catch up with more industrialized economies in the global market.
- Particles
- up
- Separability
- inseparable
- Pattern
- catch + up (+ with/on + object)
often used with 'with' for people/levels or 'on' for tasks/news.
distinguish between the physical sense of 'reaching someone' and the social sense of 'sharing news'; the social sense is extremely common in everyday conversation.
I need to catch up my friend.I need to catch up with my friend.when 'catch up' means to talk about news, you must use the preposition 'with' before the person.