play catch-up

idiom

: to try to reach the same position, score, etc., as a competitor after one has fallen behind

The team fell behind in the second inning and has had to play catch-up ever since.

The company has been trying to play a difficult game of catch-up ever since its competitor introduced the new product.

Examples of play catch-up in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Poor starts have regularly forced Carolina, Cleveland, Miami, Kansas City, the Giants, New Orleans and Houston to play catch-up while averaging fewer than 10 points in the first half. —Andrew Greif, NBC news, 21 Sep. 2025

Visual China Group | Getty Images Google has been trying to play catch-up to OpenAI in generative artificial intelligence. —Jennifer Elias, CNBC, 16 Sep. 2025

Getting ahead of these scams will be difficult, because cybersecurity workers often play catch-up to the latest criminal tactics. —Rachyl Jones, semafor.com, 29 Aug. 2025

The ball instead dropped for a double that put the Pirates ahead 2-1, forcing the Cubs to again play catch-up. —Patrick Mooney, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2025

Rhymes for play catch-up

• buttercup
• backup
• blowup
• breakup
• buildup
• checkup
• cleanup
• holdup
• hookup
• lineup
• lockup
• makeup