What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Test vs Task - What's the difference?

test | task |

As nouns the difference between test and task

is that test is a cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement while task is a piece of work done as part of one’s duties.

As verbs the difference between test and task

is that test is to refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation while task is to assign a task to, or impose a task on.

test

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) ; see terra, thirst.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A cupel or cupelling hearth in which precious metals are melted for trial and refinement.
  • A , trial.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2012, month=March-April
  • , author=Colin Allen , title=Do I See What You See? , volume=100, issue=2, page=168 , magazine=(American Scientist) citation , passage=Numerous experimental tests and other observations have been offered in favor of animal mind reading, and although many scientists are skeptical, others assert that humans are not the only species capable of representing what others do and don’t perceive and know.}}
  • (academia) An examination, given often during the academic term.
  • A session in which a product or piece of equipment is examined under everyday or extreme conditions to evaluate its durability, etc.
  • A Test match.
  • (marine biology) The external calciferous shell, or endoskeleton, of an echinoderm, e.g. sand dollars]] and sea urchins.
  • (botany) Testa; seed coat.
  • Judgment; distinction; discrimination.
  • * Dryden
  • Who would excel, when few can make a test / Betwixt indifferent writing and the best?
    Synonyms
    * (challenge) challenge, trial * (sense) quiz, examination
    Antonyms
    * (challenge) breeze * (sense) recess
    Derived terms
    * acid test * babysitter test * blood test * flame test * inkblot test * litmus test * nose test * Rorschach test * smell test * smoke test * sniff test * stress test * test case * tester * test tube
    Descendants
    * German: (l) * Dutch: (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To refine (gold, silver, etc.) in a test or cupel; to subject to cupellation.
  • To .
  • Climbing the mountain tested our stamina.
  • To put to the proof; to prove the truth, genuineness, or quality of by experiment, or by some principle or standard; to try.
  • to test''' the soundness of a principle; to '''test the validity of an argument
  • * Washington
  • Experience is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution.
  • (academics) To administer or assign an examination, often given during the academic term, to (somebody).
  • To place a product or piece of equipment under everyday and/or extreme conditions and examine it for its durability, etc.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Charles T. Ambrose
  • , title= Alzheimer’s Disease , volume=101, issue=3, page=200, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems— […]. Such a slow-release device containing angiogenic factors could be placed on the pia mater covering the cerebral cortex and tested in persons with senile dementia in long term studies.}}
  • (copulative) To be shown to be by test.
  • (chemistry) To examine or try, as by the use of some reagent.
  • to test a solution by litmus paper
    Descendants
    * German: (l)

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) tester, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A witness.
  • * Ld. Berners
  • Prelates and great lords of England, who were for the more surety tests of that deed.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To make a testament, or will.
  • 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

    * * *