"undertake" meaning in English

See undertake in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ʌndə'teɪk/ Audio: en-us-undertake.ogg [US] Forms: undertake [canonical], undertakes [third-person, singular], undertook [past], undertaken [past, participle], undertaking [present, participle]
Etymology: under- + take Etymology templates: {{ety-prefix|under|take}} under- + take Head templates: {{verb2|undertake|undertakes|undertook|undertaken|undertaking}} [POS TABLE]
  1. If you undertake something, you take responsibility for doing it and you start to do it.
    Sense id: simple-undertake-en-verb--m1irC-F Categories (other): Formal
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Categories (other): Terms prefixed with under-
{
  "categories": [
    {
      "kind": "other",
      "name": "Terms prefixed with under-",
      "parents": [],
      "source": "w"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "under",
        "2": "take"
      },
      "expansion": "under- + take",
      "name": "ety-prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "under- + take",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "undertake",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertakes",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertook",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertaken",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertaking",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "undertake",
        "2": "undertakes",
        "3": "undertook",
        "4": "undertaken",
        "5": "undertaking"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb2"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Formal",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He is in charge of this project and has undertaken this work largely single-handed since July."
        },
        {
          "text": "After a common two years, some students undertake industrial or professional placement in their third year."
        },
        {
          "text": "Britain has apparently undertaken to review its own aid to Vietnam."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you undertake something, you take responsibility for doing it and you start to do it."
      ],
      "id": "simple-undertake-en-verb--m1irC-F",
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive",
        "formal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʌndə'teɪk/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-undertake.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "undertake"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Terms prefixed with under-"
  ],
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "under",
        "2": "take"
      },
      "expansion": "under- + take",
      "name": "ety-prefix"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "under- + take",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "undertake",
      "tags": [
        "canonical"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertakes",
      "tags": [
        "third-person",
        "singular"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertook",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertaken",
      "tags": [
        "past",
        "participle"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "undertaking",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "participle"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "undertake",
        "2": "undertakes",
        "3": "undertook",
        "4": "undertaken",
        "5": "undertaking"
      },
      "expansion": "[POS TABLE]",
      "name": "verb2"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Formal",
        "Transitive verbs"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "He is in charge of this project and has undertaken this work largely single-handed since July."
        },
        {
          "text": "After a common two years, some students undertake industrial or professional placement in their third year."
        },
        {
          "text": "Britain has apparently undertaken to review its own aid to Vietnam."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "If you undertake something, you take responsibility for doing it and you start to do it."
      ],
      "raw_tags": [
        "transitive",
        "formal"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ʌndə'teɪk/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "en-us-undertake.ogg",
      "raw_tags": [
        "Audio"
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "undertake"
}

Download raw JSONL data for undertake meaning in English (1.3kB)

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-21 from the simplewiktionary dump dated 2024-12-20 using wiktextract (d8cb2f3 and 4e554ae). 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.

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