undertaking

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈʌndə(ɹ)ˌteɪkɪŋ/

• Audio, US

  (file)

Noun

undertaking (plural undertakings)

1. The business of an undertaker, or the management of funerals
2. A promise or pledge; a guarantee
3. That which is undertaken; any business, work, or project which a person engages in, or attempts to perform; an enterprise
   • 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 58:

     He laid the foundation stone on August 1 1847, and then set around 2,000 workmen loose on the undertaking. The station opened exactly one year later on August 1 1848.

4. The act of one who undertakes (in either sense)

   Antonym: overtaking (transport)

Translations

The business of an undertaker, or the management of funerals

• Bulgarian: погребално бюро (pogrebalno bjuro)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 殯儀業, 殡仪业 (bìnyíyè)

• Greek: γραφείο κηδειών n (grafeío kideión)

• Russian: похоро́нное бюро́ (ru) n (poxorónnoje bjuró), бюро́ ритуа́льных услу́г n (bjuró rituálʹnyx uslúg)
• Spanish: funeraria (es) f
• Swedish: begravningsbyrå (sv) c

A promise or pledge; a guarantee

• Bulgarian: гаранция (bg) f (garancija), поемане на задължение (poemane na zadǎlženie)
• Finnish: sopimus (fi), lupaus (fi)
• Italian: garanzia (it) f

• Persian: تضمین‎ (fa) (tazmin)
• Russian: обяза́тельство (ru) n (objazátelʹstvo)

That which is undertaken

• Belarusian: прадпрые́мства n (pradpryjémstva), мерапрые́мства n (mjerapryjémstva), пачына́нне n (pačynánnje)
• Bulgarian: предприятие (bg) n (predprijatie), дело (bg) n (delo)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 事業 (zh), 事业 (zh) (shìyè), 任務 (zh), 任务 (zh) (rènwu), 工作 (zh) (gōngzuò)

• Danish: firma (da) n, virksomhed (da) c
• Finnish: hanke (fi), aie (fi)
• French: entreprise (fr) f
• German: Unternehmen (de) n
• Greek:

  Ancient: ἐπιχείρημα n (epikheírēma)

• Hungarian: vállalkozás (hu)

• Latin: susceptus n, coeptum n
• Maori: hinonga
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: foretak n

• Persian: مرده‌شور‎ (mordešūr), گورکن‎ (fa) (gūrkan)
• Plautdietsch: Äwanämen n
• Polish: przedsięwzięcie (pl) n, antrepryza (pl) f (archaic)
• Russian: предприя́тие (ru) m (predprijátije), мероприя́тие (ru) n (meroprijátije), начина́ние (ru) n (načinánije)
• Spanish: emprendimiento (es) m
• Swedish: företag (sv) n
• Ukrainian: підприє́мство (uk) n (pidpryjémstvo), за́хід (uk) m (záxid), почина́ння n (počynánnja)
• Yiddish: אונטערנעמונג‎ f (unternemung)

The act of one who undertakes

• Irish: gabháil m

• Polish: przedsięwzięcie (pl) n, antrepryza (pl) f (archaic)
• Yiddish: אונטערנעמונג‎ f (unternemung)

Verb

undertaking

1. present participle of undertake

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “undertaking” in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)