What does 'Catch-22' mean?

What it means: An impossible situation where you're trapped by contradictory conditions - where solving the problem requires the thing you're trying to get, or the solution creates the very problem you're trying to avoid.

Classic example: You need experience to get a job, but you need a job to get experience. That's a Catch-22.

Where it comes from: Joseph Heller's 1961 novel Catch-22, set in World War II. In the novel, a pilot could be grounded (exempt from flying) if he was insane, but requesting to be grounded proved he was sane (because only a sane person would want to avoid danger). So the rule was impossible to escape - that was Catch-22.

• "I can't get health insurance because I'm unemployed, but I need health insurance because I'm sick. It's a real Catch-22."
• "The system is a Catch-22 - you need a credit history to get credit, but you need credit to build a history."

• "A no-win situation" - similar but doesn't imply the same circular logic
• "A Catch-22 situation" - with the full phrase
• "A vicious circle" - similar circular logic but about a process, not a rule
• "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" - informal equivalent

Register: Casual to professional. Widely understood by educated native speakers. Works in most contexts.

Tags: idiom, logic, impossible situations, literature, everyday English