latch on

verb

latched on; latching on; latches on
British, informal
: to begin to understand something
What he was saying was complicated, so it took me a while to latch on.

Examples of latch on in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
While Spanish police escorted most of the individuals back to Morocco with the help of Moroccan authorities, the European far right quickly latched on to the episode as fodder to further fuel its anti-migrant policies. Kelsey Norman, The Conversation, 5 Aug. 2026 Another tactic is treating ship hulls with special paint that thwarts unwanted hitchhikers from latching on. ABC News, 30 July 2026 Any gaps in clothing offer ticks a chance to hop over and latch on, and tucking your pants into your socks eliminates that critical pants-to-socks gap. Maggie Slepian, Travel + Leisure, 23 July 2026 Bukayo Saka had a goal ruled out for offside before scoring in the 37th minute from the kind of break England would have loved in the semi-final against Argentina before latching on to an Eberechi Eze pass to make it 4-0 just before the break. Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 20 July 2026 See All Example Sentences for latch on

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Latch on.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/latch%20on. Accessed 9 Aug. 2026.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

More from Merriam-Webster