Basic+ Word of the Day: task

task (noun, verb) past tense: tasked

Even young children can perform simple tasks around the house.

A task is a piece of work assigned to a person.

• Emma's favorite task was reading a bedtime story to her little brother.
• The teacher's first task each morning was to take attendance.

Task also means ‘to assign a task to someone.’

• Sylvia's boss tasked her with taking notes at the meeting.

Common uses

take to task: If you have a task but don’t do it, someone may take you to task. That means that they hold you responsible for it. Example: “My mom took me to task because my bed wasn’t made.”

task list: When you have a big project, it helps to create a task list. Then you can assign individual tasks to different people.

Did you know?

A task force is a military unit created to do a special job. It can also be a committee formed to solve a specific problem.

In pop culture

In the 1949 movie, Task Force, Gary Cooper remembers his navy career and the development of the aircraft carrier (=a ship on which airplanes land and take off).

There are other meanings of task.