tasks

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of task.

   The project involves several complex tasks that must be done in order.

   He divided the morning's work into smaller tasks and tackled them one by one.

   Note

   A regular plural that covers a wide spread of meanings: duties assigned at work, any piece of work at all, a single action by an agent, an objective, a difficult or tedious undertaking, and in computing, programs running as processes. The same spelling also serves the verb meaning "assigns", so "she tasks" and "her tasks" differ only in the words around them.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of task.

   The committee tasks one member with recording the minutes at every meeting.

   Each semester, the professor tasks her students with an independent research project.

   Note

   The present-tense form for a singular subject, and always transitive: someone tasks someone. The assigned duty usually follows with, as in "the committee tasks a member with the minutes." The verb can also mean to burden someone heavily, much as tax does, or to charge someone, as with a fault. So the word can lean toward laying blame as well as handing out work.

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