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Project vs Task - What's the difference?

project | task |

In transitive terms the difference between project and task

is that project is to make plans for; to forecast while task is to assign a task to, or impose a task on.

As nouns the difference between project and task

is that project is a planned endeavor, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages while task is a piece of work done as part of one’s duties.

As verbs the difference between project and task

is that project is to extend beyond a surface while task is to assign a task to, or impose a task on.

project

English

Etymology 1

Noun from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • A planned endeavor, usually with a specific goal and accomplished in several steps or stages.
  • * (and other bibliographic details) (Rogers)
    • projects of happiness devised by human reason
  • * (and other bibliographic details) (Prescott)
    • He entered into the project with his customary ardour.
  • (dated) An idle scheme; an impracticable design.
    • a man given to projects
  • (obsolete) A projectile.
  • (obsolete) A projection.
  • (obsolete) The place from which a thing projects.
    • (Holland)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To extend beyond a surface.
  • To cast (an image or shadow) upon a surface; to throw or cast forward; to shoot forth.
  • * Spenser
    • Before his feet herself she did project .
  • * Alexander Pope
    • Behold! th' ascending villas on my side / Project long shadows o'er the crystal tide.
  • To extend (a protrusion or appendage) outward.
  • To make plans for; to forecast.
    • The CEO is projecting the completion of the acquisition by April 2007.
  • * Milton
    • projecting peace and war
  • (reflexive) To present (oneself), to convey a certain impression, usually in a good way.
  • * 1946 , Dr. Ralph S. Banay, The Milwaukeee Journal, Is Modern Woman a Failure :
    • It is difficult to gauge the exact point at which women stop trying to fool men and really begin to deceive themselves, but an objective analyst cannot escape the conclusion (1) that partly from a natural device inherent in the species, women deliberately project upon actual or potential suitors an impression of themselves that is not an accurate picture of their total nature, and (2) that few women ever are privileged to see themselves as they really are.
  • (transitive, psychology, psychoanalysis) To assume wrongly qualities or mindsets in others based on one's own personality.
  • (cartography) To change the projection (or coordinate system) of spatial data with another projection.
    • Synonyms
    * (extend beyond a surface) jut, jut out, protrude, stick out * cast, throw * (extend outward) extend, jut, jut out * forecast, foresee, foretell,

    References

    *

    Etymology 2

    Shortening of (housing project)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (usually, plural, US) An urban low-income housing building.
    • English heteronyms ----

    task

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A piece of work done as part of one’s duties.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= A new prescription , passage=As the world's drug habit shows, governments are failing in their quest to monitor every London window-box and Andean hillside for banned plants. But even that Sisyphean task looks easy next to the fight against synthetic drugs. No sooner has a drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one.}}
  • A difficult or tedious undertaking.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-07-19, author= Ian Sample
    • , volume=189, issue=6, page=34, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains , passage=Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.  ¶ Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.}}
  • An objective.
  • (computing) A process or execution of a program.

    • Usage notes

    * Adjectives often applied to "task": difficult, easy, simple, hard, tough, complex, not-so-easy, challenging, complicated, tricky, formidable, arduous, laborious, onerous, small, big, huge, enormous, tremendous, gigantic, mammoth, colossal, gargantuan, social, intellectual, theological, important, basic, trivial, unpleasant, demanding, pleasant, noble, painful, grim, responsible, rewarding, boring, ungrateful, delightful, glorious, agreeable.

    Synonyms

    * (piece of work) chore * (difficult undertaking) undertaking * (objective) objective, goal * (process) process

    Derived terms

    * multitasking * subtask * task force * take to task * taskable * taskbody * tasklet * taskmaster

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To assign a task to, or impose a task on.
    • On my first day in the office, I was tasked with sorting a pile of invoices.
  • * 1610 , , act 1 scene 2
    • All hail, great master! grave sir, hail! I come / To answer thy best pleasure; be't to fly, / To swim, to dive into the fire, to ride / On the curl'd clouds, to thy strong bidding task / Ariel and all his quality.
  • * Dryden
    • There task thy maids, and exercise the loom.
  • To oppress with severe or excessive burdens; to tax.
  • To charge, as with a fault.
  • * Beaumont and Fletcher
    • Too impudent to task me with those errors.

    Anagrams

    * * *