catch napping
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To surprise someone who is unprepared or off guard
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
bất ngờ ai đó không chuẩn bị hoặc mất cảnh giác
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: catch someone sleeping
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The company was caught napping by the sudden change in market trends
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-30; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “catch napping” mean?
To surprise someone who is unprepared or off guard Literally: catch someone sleeping
Is “catch napping” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.