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

to take on

15 3.5
Allow someone to join a group or organization
  • phrasal verb
  • /teɪk ɑn/
: 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
∞ 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
482 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
70 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
280 3.0

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

How Welcoming

to recruit
482 3.2
welcome
∞ 1.0
to take on
15 3.5
to accept
∞ 1.0
to allow in
130 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'.