variants
or catch-all
plural catchalls or catch-alls
: something designed or serving to catch, hold, account for, or include miscellaneous items or a wide variety of things
The secret weapon for battling kitchen clutter in this case is a simple tray. … The trays act as catch-alls or places to neatly store anything that gets left out.—
Marie Rossiter
Marie RossiterAfter a period of rapidly rising consumer prices, "inflation" is a catchall for economic woes.—Edward Lotterman
—often used before another nounEdward Lottermana catchall bin
… long COVID, the catchall term for the sometimes debilitating health problems that can last for months or years after even a mild case of COVID-19.—Lauran Neergaard
Lauran NeergaardExamples of catchall in a Sentence
They used the drawer as a catchall for kitchen items.
“The arts” is a catchall for a variety of activities from painting to music.
Recent Examples on the Web
January 27, 2025 Though many herbs are touted as superfoods with catchall health benefits, few live up to the hype.
—Audrey Noble, Vogue, 27 Jan. 2025
Executive orders are among the most prominent types of executive actions, and sometimes people use that term as a catchall for other categories of ways that presidents can exercise their control over the executive branch.
—Charlie Savage, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2025
Health anxiety has become somewhat of a catchall phrase and exists on a broad spectrum, explains Timothy Scarella, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard University.
—Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2025
The image of Nila’s apartment building becomes a catchall for her family, growing up in poverty, and being of Muslim background in a country where mosques are set ablaze and brown people are victims of hate crimes.
—Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 13 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for catchall 
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Audrey Noble, Vogue, 27 Jan. 2025
Executive orders are among the most prominent types of executive actions, and sometimes people use that term as a catchall for other categories of ways that presidents can exercise their control over the executive branch.
—Charlie Savage, New York Times, 22 Jan. 2025
Health anxiety has become somewhat of a catchall phrase and exists on a broad spectrum, explains Timothy Scarella, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard University.
—Sean Mowbray, Discover Magazine, 20 Jan. 2025
The image of Nila’s apartment building becomes a catchall for her family, growing up in poverty, and being of Muslim background in a country where mosques are set ablaze and brown people are victims of hate crimes.
—Jasmine Vojdani, Vulture, 13 Jan. 2025
See all Example Sentences for catchall
Dictionary Entries Near catchall
Cite this Entry
“Catchall.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/catchall. Accessed 22 Feb. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
catchall
noun
catch·all
ˈkach-ˌȯl 
ˈkech-
: something to hold a variety of odds and ends
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