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Meaning of task in English:

task

Pronunciation /tɑːsk/

See synonyms for task

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noun

  • A piece of work to be done or undertaken.

    ‘a new manager was given the task of developing the club's talent’
    • ‘You are not afraid of taking on difficult tasks or ventures that call for skillful manoeuvres.’
    • ‘Children must be at least 13 before they can legally work and even then can only undertake light tasks.’
    • ‘The staff could be used weekly or monthly to undertake routine and repetitive tasks.’
    • ‘My brother has been undertaking the same task, for the last few days, in York.’
    • ‘This leaves us with some very difficult tasks, if we are to answer some of the questions I posed earlier.’
    • ‘Approach difficult people and arduous tasks with a light and positive attitude.’
    • ‘Here he achieved that most difficult of tasks, humour and fun in dance.’
    • ‘There are plenty of difficult tasks out there that would be perfect for this phrase.’
    • ‘These are very difficult tasks, but they're too important to leave just to women.’
    • ‘The only alternative is the difficult and painful tasks of reform and modernisation.’
    • ‘It is also proof that the simplest and most fundamental of tasks are the most difficult to carry off.’
    • ‘Youngsters find learning to blow their nose one of the most difficult of childhood tasks.’
    • ‘Already there are signs that implementing the new justice will be a difficult task.’
    • ‘If the public does not trust the political system then our task is made doubly difficult.’
    • ‘It was a difficult task, he said, but so far they had managed to stay on top of it.’
    • ‘They say that retaining a county championship is a difficult task to say the least.’
    • ‘Crossing the busy circle is a difficult task for pedestrians in the absence of a subway.’
    • ‘Controlling the diet of a child is a difficult task and depends on age and personality.’
    • ‘One of the most difficult tasks of childhood is learning how to resist social pressure.’
    • ‘That the task remains difficult does not mean the effort is not worthwhile.’
    job, duty, chore, charge, labour, piece of work, piece of business, assignment, function, commission, mission, engagement, occupation, undertaking, exercise, business, responsibility, errand, detail, endeavour, enterprise, venture, quest, problem, burden
    View synonyms

verb

[with object]

  • 1Assign a task to.

    ‘NATO troops are tasked with separating the warring parties’
    • ‘While Porter heads for the mainland to get the boat repaired, Sandy is tasked with a load of chores.’
    • ‘Each student group was tasked with carrying out a market research project and produced a marketing plan for their assigned client company.’
    • ‘Now the group, which is tasked with monitoring stop and search use in Lewisham, is planning an educational video so young people are fully aware of their rights.’
    • ‘There's a special division of career Justice Department officials who are tasked with doing this kind of work.’
    • ‘The 40-year-old was principally tasked with organising the Prince's social diary and entertaining.’
    • ‘The committee was tasked with deliberating the content of the bill, while the special team has dealt mainly with the bill's wording.’
    • ‘Every local authority in London has been tasked with increasing recycling and Lewisham was targeted to reach 10 per cent.’
    • ‘The audit agency is tasked with examining the implementation of the state budget and the financial reports of state institutions.’
    • ‘Occasionally, I was tasked with cleaning the room and re-inventorying the canned goods.’
    • ‘And still other from the Texas National Guard are tasked with purifying drinking water.’
    • ‘They have been tasked with adjudicating on individual claims.’
    • ‘Children will be tasked with picturing their group activities or special events over the next two months in time for the June 30 deadline.’
    • ‘The talented team of lighting, stage and sound technicians are tasked with bringing to life the first ever performances in the Orangery.’
    • ‘Several staff members were tasked with lightly re-editing stories and headlines each day for the new format.’
    • ‘Hammond was tasked with moving in to make necessary changes.’
    • ‘She was tasked with translating documents and recordings from FBI wire taps.’
    • ‘We're tasked with ensuring areas are swept free of any possible explosive devices left by a would-be assassin.’
    • ‘The United Nations Commission on the Status of Women was tasked with providing advice to States on the implementation of the Platform for Action.’
    • ‘They were armed with air-to-air missiles only, and were tasked with destroying airborne threats.’
    • ‘A planned conference committee hearing has been tasked with resolving these conflicting numbers.’
    1. 1.1Make great demands on (someone's resources or abilities)
      ‘it tasked his diplomatic skill to effect his departure in safety’
      • ‘When tasking your resources, make sure the plan is feasible.’

Phrases

    take someone to task

    • Reprimand or criticize someone severely for a fault or mistake.

      ‘he took some military experts to task for their optimistic predictions’
      • ‘We have had this blip and we do not criticise the PTA for taking us to task about it.’
      • ‘That is the only reason I can think of to explain why he has not been taken to task more severely by the media.’
      • ‘And some critics will then take us to task for flouting ordinary usage.’
      • ‘Critics and academics frequently take Kurosawa to task for the lack of female perspective in his films.’
      • ‘Which means there will be plenty of scolds out there taking us to task again for crass consumerism.’
      • ‘Having retrospectively castigated him at length for mixing fact and opinion, she was taken to task by the presenter over statements in her own work regarding the European constitution.’
      • ‘She has been taken to task by feminist critics for not supporting the party line.’
      • ‘Rest assured you will be taken to task at every opportunity for hate crime.’
      • ‘Some of you, however, took us to task about our coverage, saying it was short of some very important information.’
      • ‘The 15-year-old Oaklands School pupil took us to task for never featuring the graphic novels he loves.’

Origin

Middle English from an Old Northern French variant of Old French tasche, from medieval Latin tasca, alteration of taxa, from Latin taxare ‘censure, charge’ (see tax). An early sense of the verb was ‘impose a tax on’.