undertake
Americanverb (used with object)
-
undertakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
undertook,
past
-
undertaken,
past participle
-
undertaking
present participle
-
to take upon oneself, as a task, performance, etc.; attempt.
She undertook the job of answering all the mail.
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to promise, agree, or obligate oneself (followed by an infinitive).
The married couple undertook to love, honor, and cherish each other.
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to warrant or guarantee (followed by a clause).
The sponsors undertake that their candidate meets all the requirements.
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to take in charge; assume the duty of attending to.
The lawyer undertook a new case.
verb (used without object)
-
undertakes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
undertook,
past
-
undertaken,
past participle
-
undertaking
present participle
verb
-
(tr) to contract to or commit oneself to (something) or (to do something)
to undertake a job
to undertake to deliver the goods
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(tr) to attempt to; agree to start
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(tr) to take (someone) in charge
-
archaic to make oneself responsible (for)
-
(tr) to promise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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undertakesimple
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undertakessimple
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have undertakenperfect
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has undertakenperfect
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am undertakingprogressive
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are undertakingprogressive
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is undertakingprogressive
-
have been undertakingperfect progressive
-
has been undertakingperfect progressive
Past
-
undertooksimple
-
had undertakenperfect
-
was undertakingprogressive
-
were undertakingprogressive
-
had been undertakingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of undertake
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English undertaken; see under-, take
Explanation
When you undertake a task or challenge, you attempt to accomplish it. If you want to undertake a verbal challenge right now, try saying “sushi chef” ten times quickly without messing up. Way back in the 13th century, undertake meant “seize” or “entrap.” Of course, the meaning has shifted significantly since then, and we hope you don’t feel entrapped when you decide to undertake a project. However, undertake does convey a level of commitment and involvement that’s somewhat stronger than the words try or attempt might suggest.
Vocabulary lists containing undertake
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Franklin D. Roosevelt, "A Date That Will Live In Infamy" (1941)
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The Mayflower Compact (1620)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Rivas wanted reassurance that district staff had made sure that these projects are the right ones to undertake.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
If a new queen survives until her first brood emerges as adult workers, though, then the odds are in her favour as she no longer needs to undertake risky foraging.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 11, 2026
"It's extremely challenging for post-conflict societies to undertake a national reckoning or acknowledge responsibility for the crimes of the past."
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
"The oil sector is only one part of the immense reconstruction we must undertake in Venezuela," she said in a video statement.
From Barron's ● Sep. 3, 2026
So then, there seems little reason why I should not undertake my motoring trip to the West Country.
From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro
Point 11 of the MoU detailed that the "United States of America undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran".
From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026
The United States undertakes to issue all necessary permits and licenses on this basis.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 17, 2026
Every night, he reads murder mysteries to them, a ritual he undertakes primarily for his own pleasure.
From Salon ● May 17, 2026
Then last week, the DOJ said it was closing the investigation as the Fed’s inspector general undertakes an inquiry into the renovations — though the Justice Department left open the possibility of restarting its probe.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 29, 2026
A Meecham gets the best grades, wins the most awards, excels in sports, is the most popular, and is always found near the top no matter what endeavor he undertakes.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Concern stems from recent reports that Anthropic blocked use of AI tools to develop bioweapons and that swarms of AI bots autonomously undertook massive hacking operations.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2026
The Chinese operation also undertook a campaign of mass reporting and bot-network amplification against journalists from the Uyghur diaspora, according to Anthropic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
"We undertook this study to determine if vanillin, a flavor chemical often used in e-cigarettes at high concentrations, could adversely affect the development of young embryos in humans."
From Science Daily ● Aug. 28, 2026
Following their victory, Eurovision organisers undertook a "full assessment and feasibility study" to decide whether the 2023 contest could proceed in Kyiv.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The great goddess Nemesis, which means righteous anger, undertook to bring this about.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
That revision was undertaken with analytical rigor: The process took two years, involved 35 agencies, incorporated extensive new and existing research, and elicited over 20,000 comments.
From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026
The Times’ reporting on restraining orders was undertaken as part of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s Domestic Violence Impact Reporting Fund and engagement initiative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
It adds: "The charitable work of the Duke and Duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity".
From BBC ● Sep. 8, 2026
Kim acknowledges that the Bronx, Chicago and Las Vegas projects are on a different scale from anything Bally’s has undertaken.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026
Of all the reintroductions of all the different species that are undertaken, only a small percentage currently have elaborate training-to-be-wild programs.
From "Camp Panda" by Catherine Thimmesh
Enter Reinsve and Stan, an ideal pair of leads capable of providing the understated, baseline emotion that Mungiu requires to pull off an undertaking as tricky as “Fjord.”
From Salon ● Sep. 19, 2026
It was a big undertaking as the company's energy needs are "quite large", amounting to more than 25 gigawatt-hours a year, most of it for refrigeration.
From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2026
The Takaichi administration is undertaking a major update of the national defence strategy this year in the face of China's expanding military ambitions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 9, 2026
But now, as the sun poured through the third-floor atrium of the Bloom Center, Riley couldn’t help but point out the symbolism of such an ambitious undertaking actually coming to life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
An undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.
From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
