"multitask" meaning in English

See multitask in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Etymology: From multi- + task. The adjectival sense in computing first appears c. 1965 in the publications of B.I. Witt. The verbal sense first appears c. 1986 in the Daily Telegraph. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|multi|task}} multi- + task Head templates: {{en-adj|?}} multitask
  1. Handling or involving multiple tasks at once.
    Sense id: en-multitask-en-adj-lzd9TqoM Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 46 9 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 42 43 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 44 44 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 46 40 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 36 39 25
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: multi-task

Verb

Forms: multitasks [present, singular, third-person], multitasking [participle, present], multitasked [participle, past], multitasked [past]
Etymology: From multi- + task. The adjectival sense in computing first appears c. 1965 in the publications of B.I. Witt. The verbal sense first appears c. 1986 in the Daily Telegraph. Etymology templates: {{prefix|en|multi|task}} multi- + task Head templates: {{en-verb}} multitask (third-person singular simple present multitasks, present participle multitasking, simple past and past participle multitasked)
  1. (computing) To schedule and execute multiple tasks (program) simultaneously; control being passed from one to the other using interrupts. Categories (topical): Computing Translations (Translations): realizar múltiples tareas simultáneamente (Spanish), ejecutar multitareas (Spanish), simultanear (Spanish)
    Sense id: en-multitask-en-verb-B12LOF5K Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English terms prefixed with multi-, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 45 46 9 Disambiguation of English terms prefixed with multi-: 26 44 30 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 42 43 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 44 44 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 46 40 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 36 39 25 Topics: computing, engineering, mathematics, natural-sciences, physical-sciences, sciences Disambiguation of 'Translations': 84 16
  2. (figuratively, of a person) To handle multiple tasks at once. Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-multitask-en-verb-VT5phtMJ Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Spanish translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 42 43 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 44 44 11 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 46 40 14 Disambiguation of Terms with Spanish translations: 36 39 25
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: multi-task Related terms: multitasker, multitasking, monotask, multishirk

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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        "(computing) To schedule and execute multiple tasks (program) simultaneously; control being passed from one to the other using interrupts."
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Download raw JSONL data for multitask meaning in English (3.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-01-20 using wiktextract (c15a5ce and 5c11237). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.