overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

undertake.

To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

verb/ˌʌndəˈteɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌndɚˈteɪk/Canada, General-American/ˌɐndəˈtæɪk/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on.

    transitive
    They undertook the new venture, not sure where it would lead.
    They undertook cleaning the house room by room.
  2. To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).

    intransitive
    He undertook to exercise more in future.
    They undertook to clean the house room by room.
  3. To pass a slower moving vehicle on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.

    UK · informal
  4. To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.

    archaic · intransitive
  5. To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.

    obsolete · transitive
  6. To assume, as a character; to take on.

    obsolete
  7. To engage with; to attack, take on in a fight.

    obsolete
  8. To have knowledge of; to hear.

    obsolete
  9. To have or take charge of.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- + take (after undernim).

noun/ˌʌndəˈteɪk/Received-Pronunciation/ˌʌndɚˈteɪk/Canada, General-American/ˌɐndəˈtæɪk/Australia, New-Zealand
  1. The passing of slower traffic on the curbside rather than on the side closest to oncoming traffic.

    UK · informal
Where this word comes from

From Middle English undertaken; equivalent to under- + take (after undernim).

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

undertake has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

undertake studioundertake workshello, undertake

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.