Showing results for "undertaking"

• present participle of undertake.

undertaking

American  

[uhn-der-tey-king, uhn-der-tey-, uhn-der-tey-king] / ˌʌn dərˈteɪ kɪŋ, ˈʌn dərˌteɪ-, ˈʌn dərˌteɪ kɪŋ /

noun

• undertakings
  plural

1. the act of a person who undertakes any task or responsibility.

2. a task, enterprise, etc., undertaken.

   Synonyms:

   venture, effort, job, endeavor, project

3. a promise; pledge; guarantee.

4. the business of an undertaker or funeral director.

---

undertaking British  

/ ˈʌndəˌteɪkɪŋ /

noun

1. something undertaken; task, venture, or enterprise

2. an agreement to do something

3. the business of an undertaker

4. informal the practice of overtaking on an inner lane a vehicle which is travelling in an outer lane

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• undertakings
  plural

Etymology

Origin of undertaking

Middle English word dating back to 1325–75; see origin at under, taking

Explanation

Painting a house is a serious undertaking––it looks simple but involves a lot of preparation and hard work. An undertaking is a job or a task you commit to. The word also can mean the profession of funeral management. When you take something under consideration, it means you're not necessarily going to do it, you're just going to think about it. When you take something on, you've undertaken to actually do it. The word undertaking suggests something that involves quite a bit of work. Organizing an Oxfam hunger-day at your school is a significant undertaking, but it's worth all the effort.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

undertaking undertakings

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 is well known that in January 2020 the Duke and Duchess stepped down from undertaking representative duties on behalf of the sovereign, and are no longer working members of the royal family," it said.

From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026

For one thing, acquiring the myriad permits needed from federal, state and local governments would be a major undertaking.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 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

An undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is.

From "Watership Down: A Novel" by Richard Adams

In some ways, the nature of our undertakings is similar.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 13, 2026

"Recent decisions were bound by certain undertakings and my resignation enables the Adelaide Festival, as an organisation, to refresh its leadership and its approach to these circumstances," she said.

From Barron's ● Jan. 12, 2026

While customers were still taking on smaller renovation projects, they were staying away from bigger undertakings like kitchen and bath remodels, he said.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 18, 2025

A CMA-approved monitor will also oversee undertakings to maintain Redrow's build quality and service, on the Kingsbourne site in Nantwich.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2024

Intoxicated by the evidence of the miracle, he forgot at that moment about the frustration of his delirious undertakings and Melquíades' body, abandoned to the appetite of the squids.

From "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Related Words

• affair
• effort
• enterprise
• experiment
• operation
• project
• proposition
• task
• venture