UNDERTAKING

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does undertaking mean? 

• UNDERTAKING (noun)
  The noun UNDERTAKING has 2 senses:

1. any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted

2. the trade of a funeral director

  Familiarity information: UNDERTAKING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• UNDERTAKING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

labor; project; task; undertaking

Context example:

he prepared for great undertakings

Hypernyms ("undertaking" is a kind of...):

work (activity directed toward making or doing something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "undertaking"):

breeze; child's play; cinch; duck soup; picnic; piece of cake; pushover; snap; walkover (any undertaking that is easy to do)

adventure; dangerous undertaking; escapade; risky venture (a wild and exciting undertaking (not necessarily lawful))

assignment (an undertaking that you have been assigned to do (as by an instructor))

baby (a project of personal concern to someone)

endeavor; endeavour; enterprise (a purposeful or industrious undertaking (especially one that requires effort or boldness))

labor of love; labour of love (productive work performed voluntarily without material reward or compensation)

endurance contest; marathon (any long and arduous undertaking)

no-brainer (anything that requires little thought)

proposition (a task to be dealt with)

large order; tall order (a formidable task or requirement)

venture (any venturesome undertaking especially one with an uncertain outcome)

Instance hyponyms:

Manhattan Project (code name for the secret United States project set up in 1942 to develop atomic bombs for use in World War II)

Derivation:

undertake (enter upon an activity or enterprise)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The trade of a funeral director

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("undertaking" is a kind of...):

craft; trade (the skilled practice of a practical occupation)

 Context examples 

But my powers—where are they for this undertaking?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

These thoughts supported my spirits, while I pursued my undertaking with unremitting ardour.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking.”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His letter was soon dispatched; for, though dilatory in undertaking business, he was quick in its execution.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

It is a professional degree that involves a requirement for undertaking some engineering work.

(Bachelor of Engineering, NCI Thesaurus)

After a time the voices died away, and some time after that he crept out to enjoy the success of his undertaking.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Mrs. March would not hear of the old gentleman's undertaking the long journey, yet an expression of relief was visible when he spoke of it, for anxiety ill fits one for traveling.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Yes, the expense of such an undertaking would be prodigious!

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

“Trelawney,” said the doctor, “I'll go with you; and I'll go bail for it, so will Jim, and be a credit to the undertaking. There's only one man I'm afraid of.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It would be an interesting, and certainly a very kind undertaking; highly becoming her own situation in life, her leisure, and powers.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)