Task Unpleasant Noun Tɑːsk Tæsk Accomplish/Perform/Undertake/Complete Difficult/A Daunting/An

• 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)

task

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.
• Detectives are now faced with the task of identifying the body.
• 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.

Extra Examples

• 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.
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
3. to criticize somebody strongly for something they have done
• The local newspaper has been taking the city council to task over its transport policy.

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’.