mammoth task
1
5.9
- noun
- /ˈmæməθ tæsk/
- After reviewing the new curriculum, the teachers acknowledged that implementing it would be a mammoth task.
- face a mammoth task
Examples
-
If genre mastery results from multiple opportunities to practice, adolescents face a mammoth task in mastering the many genres they encounter across content areas each day.
Academic text (2013) -
These are just average people trying to do a job, and sadly they were not given the proper training beforehand to take on this mammoth task.
Blog text (12) -
I know it's a mammoth task but I want to do it.
-
The school took months of development and putting together; it was a mammoth task, to say the least.
Blog text (28) -
This may seem a mammoth task.
Academic text (1999) -
I know that this administration has inherited this mammoth task.
Blog text (23) -
Achieving a goal of $100 for a stable machine seems like a mammoth task.
Blog text (21) -
It was a mammoth task that took me 18 months and nearly sent me broke.
Blog text (8) -
You have to take up the mammoth task of a backlink audit to see where the toxic links are coming in from and how you can get rid of them.
Blog text (18) -
The team realized that completing the project on time would be a mammoth task requiring all their effort.
Synonyms
47
4.6
A large difficult task that needs a lot of effort
29
3.4
A difficult task that needs a lot of effort
27
3.6
Hard work that needs a lot of physical effort or responsibility
16
6.9
A task that is very hard to do
14
2.1
A large, important task that takes a lot of time and effort
5
5.6
A difficult and impressive achievement
3
7.2
A task that is so difficult people think it cannot be done
2
6.8
A difficult task that needs a lot of effort
1
5.2
A very difficult task that you must overcome
1
5.2
A very large, complex plan to build things like a dam or rail line that needs much money and time
1
6.4
A task that is very hard to do
A very large, difficult project that needs a lot of time and many people
A very large and difficult task that is hard to do
A very difficult task that needs a lot of effort
Antonyms
How Difficult
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a task that is extremely large, complex, or difficult' is directly and predictably derived from 'mammoth' (tremendously large) + 'task' (a piece of work). This simple adjective+noun composition follows standard compositional patterns and would be clear to a B1 learner who knows both constituent words.
Etymology
The phrase mammoth task comes from the huge animal called the mammoth that lived long ago. Imagine a job as big as that animal—too large for one person—so the phrase means 'very large' or 'very difficult'.