How to Use catch-22 in a Sentence

catch-22

noun
  • But again, this is Catch-22 logic.
    — Matthias Matthijs, Foreign Affairs, 12 Dec. 2025
  • There’s a catch-22 for April stargazers.
    — Mike Lynch, Twin Cities, 29 Mar. 2026
  • Kwakenat and his students are caught in a catch-22.
    — Laurie Stern, NPR, 26 Apr. 2026
  • The hotel is only for guests 21 and older which is a bit of a catch-22.
    — Elliott Harrell, Southern Living, 29 Sep. 2025
  • Nichols, the mother of four, described a catch-22 faced by low-income workers in the area.
    — Jonnelle Marte, Washington Post, 13 Aug. 2019
  • For tourists obsessed with beating the crowds, Covid-19 is a catch-22.
    — Laura Mallonee, Wired, 12 Apr. 2020
  • There is also this sort of catch-22 between film and DVDs.
    — Tony Maglio, HollywoodReporter, 25 June 2026
  • For employees, this creates a catch-22.
    — Caroline Castrillon, Forbes.com, 9 Sep. 2025
  • The upshot for his company is a classic Catch-22.
    — Tamar Jacoby, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
  • The unrelenting catch-22 of Moren’s job is that a program never stands still.
    — Zach Osterman, Indianapolis Star, 5 Mar. 2020
  • We are faced with a vastly more consequential version of a Catch-22.
    — Fintan O’Toole, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026
  • With new freedoms came, of course, new rules and regulations — and a sort of catch-22 for High Times.
    — Avi Selk, Washington Post, 19 Apr. 2018
  • Naming your daughter after a city, state, country or natural landscape is a bit of a catch-22.
    — Ryan Brennan, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Jan. 2025
  • At its inception, though, production of NIO’s first car faces a bit of a catch-22.
    — Sean O'Kane, The Verge, 19 Aug. 2018
  • For decades, franchise employees who wished to bargain collectively were caught in a catch-22.
    — Mark Joseph Stern, Slate Magazine, 19 Dec. 2017
  • Xi’s growing alignment with Moscow presents something of a catch-22 for China.
    — Jude Blanchette, Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb. 2022
  • And yet, these counterattacks may be ensnaring scientists in a catch-22.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 23 Aug. 2025
  • Interventions that target trust could therefore be part of a solution to the catch-22 of loneliness.
    — Marta Zaraska, Quanta Magazine, 28 Feb. 2023
  • Really, this is the catch-22 at the heart of the modern celebrity CEO and social media.
    — Callum Booth, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025
  • Traveling the distance necessary to reach one often requires a car—a catch-22 for those without licenses.
    — Andrew Cockburn, Harper's magazine, 6 Jan. 2020
  • The future Astronomical observatories on the far side of the Moon face a bit of a catch-22.
    — ArsTechnica, 16 Apr. 2025
  • But there’s radio silence on how working ATCs are supposed to solve the catch-22 of freeing up time to train with no increase in staffing levels.
    — Ryan Craig, Forbes, 7 Mar. 2025
  • California is also in danger of creating an energy catch-22 whereby the push to go green could hobble the state’s clean power efforts.
    — George Avalos, The Mercury News, 7 Jan. 2025
  • The Catch-22 is that the guarantees gave drillers the security to boost output, undercutting the rally.
    — Alex Nussbaum, Bloomberg.com, 12 May 2017
  • The catch-22 is that international expansion is expensive, which is why Hush is keen to connect brands with wholesalers who can aid the transition.
    — Madeleine Schulz, Vogue, 8 May 2026
  • The court’s decision left medical professionals in a Catch-22.
    — Virginia Hammerle, Dallas Morning News, 15 Mar. 2026
  • In the meantime, North American paleontologists have been caught in a catch-22.
    — Michael Greshko, National Geographic, 10 Sep. 2019
  • Select the right seat People who deal with migraines tend to be ultra-sensitive to motion sickness, which is a catch-22 because motion sickness can trigger an attack.
    — Cheyenne Buckingham, Condé Nast Traveler, 19 Nov. 2024
  • While new sunscreen formulas have been available for over a decade in other countries, Andrews says that the FDA has left the public with a catch-22.
    — Rachel Nussbaum, Glamour, 15 May 2018
  • The catch-22 is that Gordon arguably shouldn’t be doubling up on roles too much this early in the season — especially in the immediate aftermath of his own injury.
    — Bennett Durando, The Denver Post, 7 Dec. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'catch-22.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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