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The Difference Between ‘Catch Up’ And ‘Meet Up’ – Reader Question

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This is a good question – what’s the difference between ‘to catch up’ and ‘to meet up’..? Have a think about it, and then compare your ideas with the article below. 

First up, here are a few example sentences:

Catch Up 

I caught up with Jennifer at the weekend – she’s now a city lawyer!
It’s been really nice to see you and catch up again on everything..
After the break we’ll catch up with Megyn Kelly about the Trump campaign.
Sorry, I’ve gotta run – maybe we can catch up tomorrow?
We caught up over a coffee. 

Meet Up

Why don’t we meet up at 6 in front of the Hellary Hotel?
I’m hoping to meet up with Frank later.
Let’s meet up for a drink – when’s best for you?

Catch Up v. Meet Up

When you meet up with someone, it’s this idea of coming together to talk to each other and hang out. You’re organising a way to spend time together. It is usually in person but it can also be online.

Catching up with someone has a more specific meaning – you haven’t seen each other for a while and so you catch up with each other in order to find out the latest news.

Catching up is a bit like ‘checking in’ with someone who you are a bit out of touch with.

Meeting up is simply organising to come together in some way to talk.

Of course, when you say that you caught up with someone, you’re also saying that you met up with that person.

Another comment:

If you haven’t seen someone for a while and want to catch up with them, you might ask: “How have you been?”

If it’s someone who you see more regularly, you might ask: “How are you?”

Examples Of Catching Up

If you are on good terms with an ex partner but you haven’t seen each other since your break up, then you can meet and catch up with each other.

If you haven’t seen a good friend for a while, you can call each other and plan to catch up over a coffee.

Maybe you have a colleague who’s just come back from a holiday in Europe – so you tell them: “We’ve gotta catch up – how about a drink tonight?” 

After You Catch Up

What if there is a reason you haven’t been in such close contact..?

Some people say: “Well it was nice catching up with you”, but they might be ok with keeping things more distant.

If you want to see your friend more and stay in touch, then one of you will want to organise another meet up again soon:

“Hey it’s been great catching up with you. Let’s do this again soon!”

“I’ll give you a call again soon – maybe we can check out that new exhibition by the beach.”

“I’m having a party at the Ash Bar in a fortnight – it’d be great to see you there!” 

Finishing Up

After you’ve caught up with your friend or colleague, it might be nice to mention something memorable that your friend told you as you say goodbye:

I’m really glad it’s worked out with Simon | at work.
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t get the job, but I’m sure you’ll get the next one.
Congrats again on your promotion!
Let me know how it goes with the job | Gillian.

Read More

I have written more examples on catching up here: https://getintoenglish.com/lets-catch-up/ 

A photo posted by David (@davidsweetnam) on Mar 5, 2016 at 4:01pm PST

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rod says

    June 17, 2018 at 22:40

    This is such a comprehensive and clear post. Good job and thank you!

    Reply
    • David Sweetnam says

      June 18, 2018 at 09:33

      Thank you Rodrigo!

      Reply
  2. Dona Wickramarathne says

    June 15, 2021 at 13:03

    Its really good explanation. Thank you. Successful effort

    Reply
    • David Sweetnam says

      June 20, 2021 at 21:42

      Hi Dona – thanks for visiting the site today! 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Word Watch – “I Don’t Wanna Brag” – Brag [v.] – Get into English says:
    March 22, 2016 at 01:40

    […] song tells the story of a man who’s looking forward to catching up with a woman he’s dating. Well, he doesn’t just want to catch up with her, he also wants to […]

    Reply

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