What's the difference between take and undertake?

Take


Definition:

  • (p. p.) Taken.
  • (v. t.) In an active sense; To lay hold of; to seize with the hands, or otherwise; to grasp; to get into one's hold or possession; to procure; to seize and carry away; to convey.
  • (v. t.) To obtain possession of by force or artifice; to get the custody or control of; to reduce into subjection to one's power or will; to capture; to seize; to make prisoner; as, to take am army, a city, or a ship; also, to come upon or befall; to fasten on; to attack; to seize; -- said of a disease, misfortune, or the like.
  • (v. t.) To gain or secure the interest or affection of; to captivate; to engage; to interest; to charm.
  • (v. t.) To make selection of; to choose; also, to turn to; to have recourse to; as, to take the road to the right.
  • (v. t.) To employ; to use; to occupy; hence, to demand; to require; as, it takes so much cloth to make a coat.
  • (v. t.) To form a likeness of; to copy; to delineate; to picture; as, to take picture of a person.
  • (v. t.) To draw; to deduce; to derive.
  • (v. t.) To assume; to adopt; to acquire, as shape; to permit to one's self; to indulge or engage in; to yield to; to have or feel; to enjoy or experience, as rest, revenge, delight, shame; to form and adopt, as a resolution; -- used in general senses, limited by a following complement, in many idiomatic phrases; as, to take a resolution; I take the liberty to say.
  • (v. t.) To lead; to conduct; as, to take a child to church.
  • (v. t.) To carry; to convey; to deliver to another; to hand over; as, he took the book to the bindery.
  • (v. t.) To remove; to withdraw; to deduct; -- with from; as, to take the breath from one; to take two from four.
  • (v. t.) In a somewhat passive sense, to receive; to bear; to endure; to acknowledge; to accept.
  • (v. t.) To accept, as something offered; to receive; not to refuse or reject; to admit.
  • (v. t.) To receive as something to be eaten or dronk; to partake of; to swallow; as, to take food or wine.
  • (v. t.) Not to refuse or balk at; to undertake readily; to clear; as, to take a hedge or fence.
  • (v. t.) To bear without ill humor or resentment; to submit to; to tolerate; to endure; as, to take a joke; he will take an affront from no man.
  • (v. t.) To admit, as, something presented to the mind; not to dispute; to allow; to accept; to receive in thought; to entertain in opinion; to understand; to interpret; to regard or look upon; to consider; to suppose; as, to take a thing for granted; this I take to be man's motive; to take men for spies.
  • (v. t.) To accept the word or offer of; to receive and accept; to bear; to submit to; to enter into agreement with; -- used in general senses; as, to take a form or shape.
  • (v. i.) To take hold; to fix upon anything; to have the natural or intended effect; to accomplish a purpose; as, he was inoculated, but the virus did not take.
  • (v. i.) To please; to gain reception; to succeed.
  • (v. i.) To move or direct the course; to resort; to betake one's self; to proceed; to go; -- usually with to; as, the fox, being hard pressed, took to the hedge.
  • (v. i.) To admit of being pictured, as in a photograph; as, his face does not take well.
  • (n.) That which is taken; especially, the quantity of fish captured at one haul or catch.
  • (n.) The quantity or copy given to a compositor at one time.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The rash presented either as a pityriasis rosea-like picture which appeared about three to six months after the onset of treatment in patients taking low doses, or alternatively, as lichenoid plaques which appeared three to six months after commencement of medication in patients taking high doses.
  • (2) Power urges the security council to "take the kind of credible, binding action warranted."
  • (3) The 14C-aminopyrine breath test was used to measure liver function in 14 normal subjects, 16 patients with alcoholic cirrhosis, 14 alcoholics without cirrhosis, and 29 patients taking a variety of drugs.
  • (4) That means deciding what job they’d like to have and outlining the steps they’ll need to take to achieve it.
  • (5) A survey carried out two and three years after the launch of the official campaign also showed a reduction in the prevalence of rickets in children taking low dose supplements equivalent to about 2.5 micrograms (100 IU) vitamin D daily.
  • (6) The only sign of life was excavators loading trees on to barges to take to pulp mills.
  • (7) Under these conditions the meiotic prophase takes place and proceeds to the dictyate phase, obeying a somewhat delayed chronology in comparison with controls in vivo.
  • (8) "With hyperspectral imaging, you can tell the chemical content of a cake just by taking a photo of it.
  • (9) Now, as the Senate takes up a weakened House bill along with the House's strengthened backdoor-proof amendment, it's time to put focus back on sweeping reform.
  • (10) Those without sperm, or with cloudy fluid, will require vasoepididymostomy under general or epidural anesthesia, which takes 4-6 hr.
  • (11) Serum gamma glutamyl transferase (gammaGT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activities have been estimated in 49 epileptic patients taking anticonvulsant drugs.
  • (12) Undaunted by the sickening swell of the ocean and wrapped up against the chilly wind, Straneo, of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, one of the world's leading oceanographic research centres, continues to take measurements from the waters as the long Arctic dusk falls.
  • (13) But what they take for a witticism might very well be true; most of Ellis's novels tell more or less the same story, about the same alienated ennui, and maybe they really are nothing more than the fictionalised diaries of an unremarkably unhappy man.
  • (14) It was then I decided to take up the offer from Berkeley."
  • (15) While the majority of EU member states, including the UK, do not have a direct interest in the CAR, or in taking action, the alternative is unthinkable.
  • (16) Mother and Sister take over with more nuanced emotional literacy.
  • (17) "These developments are clearly unwarranted on the basis of economic and budgetary fundamentals in these two member states and the steps that they are taking to reinforce those fundamentals."
  • (18) This attack can take place during organogenesis, during early differentiation of neural anlagen after neural tube closure or during biochemical differentiation of the brain.
  • (19) You can't spend more than you take in, and you can't keep doing it for ever and ever and ever.
  • (20) The process of integrating the two banks is expected to take three years, with predictions that up to 25,000 roles could eventually be eliminated.

Undertake


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To take upon one's self; to engage in; to enter upon; to take in hand; to begin to perform; to set about; to attempt.
  • (v. t.) Specifically, to take upon one's self solemnly or expressly; to lay one's self under obligation, or to enter into stipulations, to perform or to execute; to covenant; to contract.
  • (v. t.) Hence, to guarantee; to promise; to affirm.
  • (v. t.) To assume, as a character.
  • (v. t.) To engage with; to attack.
  • (v. t.) To have knowledge of; to hear.
  • (v. t.) To take or have the charge of.
  • (v. i.) To take upon one's self, or assume, any business, duty, or province.
  • (v. i.) To venture; to hazard.
  • (v. i.) To give a promise or guarantee; to be surety.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) However, as the same task confronts the Lib Dems, do we not now have a priceless opportunity to bring the two parties together to undertake a fundamental rethink of the way social democratic principles and policies can be made relevant to modern society.
  • (2) But earlier this year the Unesco world heritage committee called for the cancellation of all such Virunga oil permits and appealed to two concession holders, Total and Soco International, not to undertake exploration in world heritage sites.
  • (3) Without that, and without undertaking big changes, the service's future may fall into doubt, he says.
  • (4) The performance of the instrument was evaluated by undertaking in vitro measurements of the reflectance spectra of blood.
  • (5) This work undertakes the study of changes in urinary, plasmatic and tissue levels of Thromboxane B2 (TXB2) as well as in tissue Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) after pancreas transplantation and the effect of superoxide dismutase (SOD) on these changes.
  • (6) The surgeon must have an exact idea of this canal before undertaking operation for plastics of the hernial defect.
  • (7) So far, there is little sign of similar hubris at the Human Brain Project, a far more complex undertaking, but perhaps for the moment Markram's ambition is precisely what is needed.
  • (8) This report describes how the difficulties were surmounted, and how the National Technical Centre then proceeded to undertake activities to extend awareness of the ICIDH.
  • (9) Since the regime was introduced, we have been undertaking work to ensure that senior manager responsibilities are properly allocated and understood in firms.
  • (10) The questions facing nursing now are not whether nurses should undertake this role, but how well do they provide information?
  • (11) The prison suicide rate, at 120 deaths per 100,000 people, is about 10 times higher than the rate in the general population.” The report calls for a recently revised incentives and earned privileges regime to be scrapped and for an undertaking that prisoners with mental health problems or at known risk of suicide should never be placed in solitary.
  • (12) Additional reconstruction of the "donor" limb arteries and dilatation of the iliac artery improve circulation in the "donor limb", which makes it possible to undertake cross femoral-femoral shunting in patients with a high risk of aorto-femoral reconstruction in atherosclerotic affection of the "donor" limb.
  • (13) They were charged with undertaking acts in preparation or planning for a terrorist act.
  • (14) Despite the fact that this approach has several caveats, consistent results obtained in short-term studies would more readily justify the undertaking of a large-scale, long-term controlled study using colon cancer or adenomatous polyp recurrence as an endpoint.
  • (15) The chance discovery of an oesophageal localisation of Crohn's disease led the authors to undertake routine study of the oesophagus in their last 18 patients suffering from the disorder.
  • (16) Pedro is due in London on Wednesday to undertake a medical and discuss personal terms, with United having withdrawn their interest.
  • (17) Maybe this will be increasing the frequency of patrols, or going to places that the Obama administration has been hesitant to go – such as actually undertaking a non-innocent passage military patrols within 12 miles of an artificial island.
  • (18) He held out a hand to North Korea again, calling for it to denuclearise; and to Burma, if it undertakes democratic reform and frees political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
  • (19) The judge noted the “seriousness of these offences and impact on road traffic, particularly given the number of fines previously issued against BT by TfL for similar offences.” Firms undertaking work anywhere in London need a permit before digging up the roads, allowing highway authorities to coordinate work to minimise disruption.
  • (20) Prior to undertaking the exploration of phenomena in a research study with people from different cultures, certain elements must be addressed in order to bridge cultural and linguistic differences.