Catch-22
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.
Meaning
1 senses(idiomatic)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.
Zwickmühle, Dilemma, Teufelskreis
Translations
5 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
Coined by American writer Joseph Heller in 1961 in his novel Catch-22, in which the main cCoined by American writer 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.
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