CAUGHT IN 4K

What Does CAUGHT IN 4K Mean?

The Quick Answer

CAUGHT IN 4K means "Caught Red-Handed."

More Detail...

The expression "caught in 4K" originally meant that someone had been caught on video doing something they shouldn't have. It may well not have been 4K very high-definition video, but the implication was that there was irrefutable proof of what they had said or done. The meaning of "caught in 4K" has since expanded to include any situation in which someone has been caught red-handed, whether or not video evidence exists. For example:

• Putin's bots are flooding social media with his propaganda, but he's been well and truly caught in 4K this time.
• Jo was sleeping at his desk when the boss walked in. Talk about caught in 4K!

The expression "caught red-handed" probably comes from a murderer literally being caught with blood on their hands. It is now widely used to refer to anyone caught in the act of doing something they shouldn't be.

Image for CAUGHT IN 4K

When I write CAUGHT IN 4K, I mean this:

"Caught in 4K" doesn't need to mean that there is actually high-definition video evidence.

Summary of Key Points

We have summarized the key points in the table below:

CAUGHT IN 4K
Definition:	Caught Red-Handed
Type:	Word (Slang)
Guessability:	2: Quite easy to guess
Typical Users:	Adults and Teenagers

An Academic Look at CAUGHT IN 4K

"Caught in 4K" is an idiom; i.e., an expression whose meaning does not relate to the literal meaning of its words. Here are some other common idioms:

• He's been pushing up the daisies for a year.
(He's been dead for a year.)
• Let's paint the town red.
(Let's have a good time in town.)

What Did We Say before Texting and Social Media?

Before the digital era, we might have just said something like "caught red-handed" instead of "caught in 4K."

Example of CAUGHT IN 4K Used in a Text

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