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Glite Dictionary
📝 To accept work 🔄 To gain a quality ⚔️ To face an opponent 👥 To add people
to take on

to take on

50 3.5
Allow someone to join a group or organization
  • phrasal verb
  • /teɪk ɑn/
translation icon : incorporar
  • OK, so can I ask you to take on the Crown project?
  • take on new members

And he said, we're going to take you on as a client and and we'll see what happens.

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Examples

  • We can't afford to take on anyone else.

    The Holding (2011)

  • And he said, we're going to take you on as a client and and we'll see what happens.

    Evan Carmichael

  • SF State takes on a number of high school students.

  • Almost ready then for Super Bowl XXV, where the Giants get ready to take on the Buffalo Bills for the ultimate prize in football.

    Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)

  • The organization will take on new members at the start of next month.

  • She decided to take on a new role in the committee to help the community.

  • The club is excited to take on more volunteers for their upcoming event.

Synonyms

to accept
vsto take on
793 1.0

To take something someone offers, for example a gift or invitation

is focused on letting people join groups not receiving objects or gifts
to recruit
vsto take on
277 3.2

To find people to join a group or organization

is about permitting people to join rather than actively bringing them in
to admit
vsto take on
238 2.8

Allow someone to join a group or organization

is used for joining groups or communities in a broader nonformal sense

Antonyms

to exclude
338 3.0

To keep someone or something out so they are not part of something

How Welcoming

to recruit
277 3.2
welcome
∞ 1.0
to take on
50 3.5
to accept
793 1.0
to allow in
172 1.3

Surface Forms

take on infinitive
taking on present participle
takes on third person singular
took on past
taken on past participle

Morphology

take + on

The sense 'to compete against' is a metaphorical extension of 'take' combined with the particle 'on' and is not a simple literal composition of the two words. While a learner who knows phrasal-verb patterns might infer a confrontational or assume-responsibility sense, the specific meaning 'face/compete against' is not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

Take on can mean to allow someone into a group and comes from the image of bringing a person 'on' to the team. To take someone on is to accept them into the group, so it means 'to allow someone to join'.