catnip

noun

cat·​nip ˈkat-ˌnip 

1

: a strong-scented perennial mint (Nepeta cataria) that has whorls of small pale flowers in terminal spikes and contains a substance attractive to cats

2

: something very attractive

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Quality-of-life issues have been voter catnip in my Orange County homeland for generations. —Los Angeles Times, 22 Feb. 2022

Any shred of information about her is catnip for the media. —Ryan Leas, Vulture, 28 Apr. 2023

These are definitely some attractive ideas—catnip for screenwriters and bipartisanship fetishists. —Alex Shephard, The New Republic, 6 Jan. 2023

Thanks to robust multiplexing which proved catnip to Latin America’s predominantly young cinema going audiences, U.S. movies command a much higher market share in Latin America to any other foreign region in the world, over 80% to Europe’s around 65%. —John Hopewell, Variety, 7 Dec. 2022

The two-term Republican has been comedy catnip throughout his nine-year Senate career. —Dallas News, 2 Feb. 2022

There was lots of TikTok catnip. —Vanessa Friedman, New York Times, 21 Feb. 2023

Such lines are catnip to the populist grassroots. —Matthew Continetti, National Review, 11 Feb. 2023

The researchers repeated all of their experiments with catnip and found very different results. —Sam Zlotnik, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 June 2022

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Word History

Etymology

cat entry 1 + obsolete nep catnip, from Middle English, from Old English nepte, from Latin nepeta

First Known Use

1712, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Kids Definition

catnip

noun

cat·​nip -ˌnip 

: a strong-scented herb of the mint family that is especially attractive to cats

Medical Definition

catnip

noun

cat·​nip -ˌnip 

variants also catnep

-ˌnep, -nəp 

1

: a strong-scented mint (Nepeta cataria) that has small pale flowers in terminal spikes and contains a substance attractive to cats

called also cataria, catmint

2

: cataria sense 2