under- + take

undertake is on the Academic Word List.

Word parts

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Pronunciation

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Plain form
undertake

Third-person singular
undertakes

Past tense
undertook

Past participle
undertaken

Present participle
undertaking

  1. (transitive) (formal) If you undertake something, you take responsibility for doing it and you start to do it.
    He is in charge of this project and has undertaken this work largely single-handed since July.
    After a common two years, some students undertake industrial or professional placement in their third year.
    Britain has apparently undertaken to review its own aid to Vietnam.
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