a catch 22 situation

CEFR: C1-C2 /a catch 22 sit-u-a-tion/ [no ipa available]

An example would be if you had very low grades and get kicked out of your university. You want to transfer to another school that has better classes and professors, but you are unable to get into that school until you raise your grades. Another example would be if you are freshly out of college and you want to get a job, but every job requires experience. You first have to get experience to get a job, but you can’t get a job without experience.

Example sentence:

Example Sentences:

It's a Catch 22 situation here. Nobody wants to support you until you're successful, but without the support how can you ever be successful?

Remember! If you describe a situation as a Catch-22, you mean it is an impossible situation because you cannot do one thing until you do another thing, but you cannot do the second thing until you do the first thing. It’s a no-win dilemma or paradox, similar to damned if I do, damned if I don’t. For example, you can’t get a job without experience, but you can’t get experience unless you have a job. it’s a Catch-22.