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.

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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

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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

The only comparable alternative would involve sending spacecraft directly to another star, an undertaking that would require enormous amounts of time and money.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 24, 2026

Shopping for a home loan on top of the strenuous process of shopping for the house itself might sound exhausting — but buyers who skip this undertaking often end up considerably overpaying for their mortgage.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026

It should have been a relatively straightforward undertaking to navigate from the area where Goforth was riding to the spot where the vehicle was parked, especially for someone familiar with the area, Buelna added.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

Steven Thorpe said transporting the piece of Berlin Wall to south London from Germany was "quite an undertaking"

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

Stanislavski wrote that an actor should try to imagine an artist undertaking a “delicate pencil sketch.”

From "Drama High" by Michael Sokolove

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

This, more than other maladies hanging over from whatever happens in November, might be one of the most arduous undertakings of a generation.

From Salon ● Sep. 10, 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