Task System Set Communications Thankless Unpleasant Easy Learning

• to perform/carry out/complete/undertake a task
• a daunting/an impossible/a formidable/an unenviable, etc. task
• a thankless task (= an unpleasant one that nobody wants to do and nobody thanks you for doing)
• our first task is to set up a communications system.

task

1. a piece of work that somebody has to do, especially a hard or unpleasant one
• to perform/carry out/complete/undertake a task
• a daunting/an impossible/a formidable/an unenviable, etc. task
• a thankless task (= an unpleasant one that nobody wants to do and nobody thanks you for doing)
• Our first task is to set up a communications system.
• Detectives are now faced with the task of identifying the body.
• Getting hold of this information was no easy task (= was difficult).
• It was my task to wake everyone up in the morning.
• Our first task will be to set up a communications system.
• Your duties will include setting up a new computer system.
• They undertook a fact-finding mission in the region.
• I’ve got various jobs around the house to do.
• household chores
2. an activity which is designed to help achieve a particular learning goal, especially in language teaching
• 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.

Extra Examples

• 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.
• Nobody was keen to take on such a thankless task.
• She failed to complete the task that she had been set.
• She was charged with the important task of telling the children.
• The primary task of the chair is to ensure the meeting runs smoothly.
• The task requires a variety of skills and experience.
• The team have no illusions about the size of the task confronting them.
• The unenviable task of telling my parents fell to my teacher.
• Translating the letter was no easy task.
• We need to think realistically about the task ahead.
• We should stop chatting and get back to the task in hand.
• a hard task for the committee
• one of the first tasks in language learning
• the grim task of identifying the dead
• the simple task of making a sandwich
• Getting hold of the information was no easy task.
• How exactly do you intend to approach this task?
• No one was willing to undertake the task.
• Our first task will be to set up a communications system.
• She had the unenviable task of talking to the missing girl’s parents.
• The task eventually fell to me.
• You should pay attention to the task in hand.
• You’ll be required to do several routine tasks in the office.

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’.