Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb cotton_on
1 sense of cotton on
Sense 1
catch on, get wise, get onto, tumble, latch on, cotton on, twig, get it -- (understand, usually after some initial difficulty; "She didn't know what her classmates were plotting but finally caught on")
=> grok, get the picture, comprehend, savvy, dig, grasp, compass, apprehend -- (get the meaning of something; "Do you comprehend the meaning of this letter?")