# undertaking

Pronunciation: US say "UN-der-tay-king" /ˈʌndə(ɹ)ˌteɪkɪŋ/; UK say "un-duh-TAY-king" /ˌʌndəˈteɪkɪŋ/

## Noun

1. A business, work, or project that a person takes on or attempts to carry out.
   - Simple: A job or project that someone chooses to take on.
   - _Restoring the cathedral became the largest undertaking of his career._
   - _Such undertakings often take years and considerable funding._
2. A promise, pledge, or guarantee to do or not do something.
   - Simple: A firm promise or guarantee to do something.
   - _The contractor signed an undertaking to finish the work by June._
   - _Their written undertaking promised repayment within a year._
4. The business of an undertaker; the work of arranging and managing funerals.
   - Simple: The work of arranging funerals and caring for the dead.
   - _He trained in undertaking, learning to prepare bodies and arrange burials._
   - _Their undertaking handled most of the funerals in the county for decades._
5. The act of taking something on, or of giving a pledge to do something.
   - Simple: The act of taking on a task or making a promise.
   - _The undertaking of the rescue required hours of preparation._
   - _His undertaking of the debt freed his brother from the loan._

## Verb

3. Present participle and gerund of undertake. — present participle and gerund of undertake
   - Simple: Present participle and gerund of undertake. Use it for an action happening now or as the name of doing that action.
   - _The agency is undertaking a comprehensive study of regional traffic patterns._
   - _Undertaking the renovation without a permit landed them in legal trouble._

## Origin

Formed from "undertake" with the suffix "-ing".

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/undertaking (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).