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Thread vs Task - What's the difference?

thread | task |

As nouns the difference between thread and task

is that thread is thread (computing: unit of execution) while task is a piece of work done as part of one’s duties.

As a verb task is

to assign a task to, or impose a task on.

thread

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A long, thin and flexible form of material, generally with a round cross-section, used in sewing, weaving or in the construction of string.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=Ep./1/2
    • , passage=He walked. To the corner of Hamilton Place and Picadilly, and there stayed for a while, for it is a romantic station by night. The vague and careless rain looked like threads of gossamer silver passing across the light of the arc-lamps.}}
  • A theme or idea.
  • A screw thread.
  • A sequence of connections.
  • *
  • *
  • The line midway between the banks of a stream.
  • (label) A unit of execution, lighter in weight than a process, generally expected to share memory and other resources with other threads executing concurrently.
  • (label) A series of messages, generally grouped by subject, all but the first replies to previous messages in the thread.
  • A filament, as of a flower, or of any fibrous substance, as of bark.
  • (label) Composition; quality; fineness.
  • * (Ben Jonson) (1572-1637)
    • A neat courtier, / Of a most elegant thread .

    Synonyms

    * (theme) topic

    Derived terms

    * hang by a thread * quadruple thread * screw thread * thread count * thread necromancy * thread pool * threadbare * threader * thready

    Verb

  • To put thread through.
    • thread a needle
  • To pass (through a narrow constriction or around a series of obstacles).
    • I think I can thread my way through here, but it’s going to be tight.
  • * 2013 , Ben Smith, "[http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/24503988]", BBC Sport , 19 October 2013:
    • Picking the ball up in his own half, Januzaj threaded a 40-yard pass into the path of Rooney to slice Southampton open in the blink of an eye.
  • To screw on, to fit the s of a nut on a bolt

    • Derived terms

    * threaded (as adjective) * multithreaded

    Anagrams

    * * *

    See also

    (sewing needle) ----

    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

    * * *