task

[task, tahsk]

noun

1. a definite piece of work assigned to, falling to, or expected of a person; duty.

   Synonyms: assignment, job

2. any piece of work.

   Synonyms: assignment, job

3. a matter of considerable labor or difficulty.

4. Obsolete.,  a tax or impost.

verb (used with object)

1. to subject to severe or excessive labor or exertion; put a strain upon (powers, resources, etc.).

2. to impose a task on.

3. Obsolete.,  to tax.

adjective

1. of or relating to a task or tasks.

   A task chart will help organize the department's work.

task

/ tɑːsk /

noun

1. a specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or chore

2. an unpleasant or difficult job or duty

3. any piece of work

4. to criticize or reprove

verb

1. to assign a task to

2. to subject to severe strain; tax

Other Word Forms

• taskless adjective
• subtask noun
• untasked adjective
• tasker noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of task¹

First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English noun, from Medieval Latin tasca, variant of taxa tax ( def. )

Word History and Origins

Origin of task¹

C13: from Old French tasche, from Medieval Latin tasca, from taxa tax, from Latin taxāre to _tax

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. take to task, to call to account; blame; censure.

   The teacher took them to task for not doing their homework.

see take to task.

Synonym Study

Task, chore, job, assignment refer to a definite and specific instance or act of work. Task and chore and, to a lesser extent, job often imply work that is tiresome, arduous, or otherwise unpleasant. Task usually refers to a clearly defined piece of work, sometimes of short or limited duration, assigned to or expected of a person: the task of pacifying angry customers; a difficult, time-consuming task. A chore is a minor task, usually one of several performed as part of a routine, as in farming, and often more tedious than difficult: the daily chore of taking out the garbage; early morning chores of feeding the livestock. Job is the most general of these terms, referring to almost any work or responsibility, including a person's means of earning a living: the job of washing the windows; a well-paying job in advertising. Assignment refers to a specific task allocated to a person by someone in a position of authority: a homework assignment; a reporter's assignment to cover international news.

Example Sentences

While that certainly made sense during the crisis, it came at the expense of tasks that require collaboration, such as group projects, helping colleagues and mentoring new hires.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Humans and traditional computers must break these tasks into sequences, but light can perform all of them at the same time.

Read more on Science Daily

The next phase of the project will apply the same belief revision tasks to young children.

Read more on Science Daily

The Church now faces the painstaking task of rebuilding systems that failed for years: rewriting governance structures, establishing credible oversight, and embedding a culture that encourages reporting rather than avoids it.

Read more on BBC

Data centres are banks of computers which carry out digital tasks.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• assignment 
• burden 
• business 
• duty 
• effort 
• exercise 
• function 
• project 
• responsibility 
• undertaking 
• work