Meaning of task in English

task

noun

/tæsk/ uk

/tɑːsk/

task noun (WORK)

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B2 [ C ]

a piece of work to be done, especially one done regularly, unwillingly, or with difficulty:

perform a task We usually ask interviewees to perform a few simple tasks on the computer just to test their aptitude.

daunting task The administration now faced the daunting task of restructuring the entire healthcare system.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Work, working and the workplace

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task noun (SPEAK ANGRILY)

take someone to task

to criticize or speak angrily to someone for something that they have done wrong:

take someone to task for/over something She took her assistant to task for/over her carelessness.

task

verb [ T usually passive ]

/tæsk/ uk

/tɑːsk/

to give someone a task:

be tasked with We have been tasked with setting up camps for refugees.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Giving orders & commands

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(Definition of task from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

task | Intermediate English

task

noun [ C ]

/tæsk/

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a piece of work to be done, esp. one done regularly, unwillingly, or with difficulty:

Our first task after we moved was to find a doctor.

Making these pastries is no easy task.

They face the daunting task of rebuilding their economy.

(Definition of task from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

task | Business English

task

noun [ C ]

/tɑːsk/ us

/tæsk/

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WORKPLACE

a piece of work that needs to be done, especially one that is a regular part of someone's job:

The new team's first task will be to ensure a smooth handover of power.

carry out/complete/do a task Those in charge of planning the relocation will need to decide what tasks need to be carried out.

assign/give/set sb a task A small team at head office has been assigned the task of setting up a central database.

perform/undertake a task

a big/important/major task

a crucial/key/main task

time-consuming/urgent tasks

easy/menial/simple tasks

administrative/creative/sales tasks

a difficult thing that must be done:

a challenging/daunting task The government faces the daunting task of restructuring the pension system.

a difficult/hard/impossible task With the cost-cutting complete, the bank is faced with the more difficult task of generating increased revenues to convert into profit.

an action done by a computer such as starting a program, checking email, saving files, etc.:

By automating repetitive tasks, software programs can save people a lot of time.

do/execute/perform a task A mainframe's speed is measured in the number of tasks it can perform in a millisecond.

take sb/sth to task (over sth)

to criticize a person, group of people, or an organization for doing something that you think is very wrong:

Farmers took the large supermarket chains to task over their ruthless pricing.

Examples of task

task

But, hey, people have told me all along there's two really tough tasks, right?

From ESPN

Now it's time to move your focus to a new task.

From CNN

Our first task was to find a place to have the baby.

From Slate Magazine

We'd like to see him tasked with improving city government customer service.

From Baltimore Sun

Figuring out where the problem lies is a difficult task.

From The Verge

Measuring the amount of dark matter in the universe is no easy task.

From Phys.Org

But flying under human power -- and human power alone -- isn't an easy task.

From NPR

Today, a full-time task force continues to work the case.

From NPR

People come into organizations knowing there are tasks they need to accomplish.

From Fast Company

And that's not the task just of marriage, but the task of growing up -- isn't it?

From The Atlantic

I'm not really sure that a writer -- whose whole task is the attempt to see clearly -- can afford such attachments.

From The Atlantic

Essential to this task was the use of different calendars.

From Huffington Post

The task this time is not simply to add a new feature.

From Foreign Policy

So many students need support to complete tasks that may seem so simple to others, he said.

From OregonLive.com

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

Collocations with task

task

These are words often used in combination with task.

Click on a collocation to see more examples of it.

academic task

As such, knowledge of academic language is intertwined with both the concepts taught in school and the cognitive processes required to carry out academic tasks.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

administrative task

There was a presumption that the government's administrative task was to balance the interests of the competing groups; the outcomes were not its concern.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

arduous task

Generalizing the accumulated knowledge of this rural past becomes an arduous task, therefore.

From the Cambridge English Corpus

See all collocations with task

What is the pronunciation of task?