task

Universal Words noun, verb noun a piece of work that sb 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 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. IDIOMS take sb to task (for / over sth) to criticize sb strongly for sth they have done: The local newspaper has been taking the city council to task over its transport policy. verb [VN] [usuallypassive] ~ sb (with sth) (formal) to give sb a task to do: NATO troops were tasked with keeping the peace.