task
task
/tɑːsk/
1 a piece of work that somebody has to do, especially a hard or unpleasant one
to accomplish/perform/undertake/complete a task
a difficult/a daunting/an impossible task
Getting hold of this information was no easy task (= was difficult).
a thankless task (= an unpleasant one that nobody wants to do and nobody thanks you for doing)
The first task for the new leader is to focus on the economy.
The new role involves a variety of specific tasks.
task of doing something Detectives are now faced with the task of identifying the body.
task of something The government now has to take on the task of reconstruction of the country.
We should stop chatting and get back to the task at hand.
You need to concentrate on the task in hand.
It was a challenge to adapt this novel for the screen, but the writer proved himself equal to the task.
It was my task to wake everyone up in the morning.
Our first task is to set up a communications system.
She felt daunted by the enormity of the task ahead.
How do you tackle a task like that?
I left her to get on with the task of correcting the errors.
I was engaged in the delicate task of clipping the dog's claws.
She failed to complete the task that she had been set.
The primary task of the chair is to ensure the meeting runs smoothly.
The team have no illusions about the size of the task confronting them.
The unenviable task of telling my parents fell to my teacher.
We need to think realistically about the task ahead.
the simple task of making a sandwich
How exactly do you intend to approach this task?
You'll be required to do several routine tasks in the office.
Collocations
adjective
verb + task
[take upon yourself
task + verb
fall to somebody
preposition
task for
task in
phrases
be no easy task
the task ahead
the task at hand…
2 an activity that is designed to help achieve a particular learning goal, especially in language teaching
Look at the diagram and then do the task below.
task-based learning
Idioms
e.g.
task
/tɑːsk/
to give somebody a task to do
be tasked with something NATO troops were tasked with keeping the peace.
e.g.
Word Origin
Middle English: from an Old Northern French variant of Old French tasche, from medieval Latin tasca, alteration of taxa, from Latin taxare ‘censure, charge’, perhaps from Greek tassein ‘fix’. An early sense of the verb was ‘impose a tax on’.