A paradoxical set-up in which a person cannot escape or find a way out, but remain to be subject to contradictory rules or limitations. Catch-22 is a dilemma or difficult circumstance that raises mutually conflicting or dependent conditions that make finding a solution or reaching/ making a decision impossible.

Catch-22 may involve a situation where a solution to a problem is at the same time the very cause of this problem. A predicament cannot be overcome due to the interdependencies between the conditions at play.

A prime example is the situation where a firm has a seemingly lucrative opportunity to make good money and overcome lack of monetary resources, but the opportunity requires investing of specific monetary amounts, deploying certain internal resources, due to its inability to secure external funds, and so on.