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Under vs Undertake - What's the difference?

under | undertake |

As a preposition under

is under.

As a verb undertake is

(label) to take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc).

under

English

Preposition

(English prepositions)
  • In or at a lower level than.
  • * 1922 , (Virginia Woolf), (w, Jacob's Room) Chapter 1
    • The little boys in the front bedroom had thrown off their blankets and lay under the sheets.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
    • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall.  Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=28, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= High and wet , passage=Floods in northern India, mostly in the small state of Uttarakhand, have wrought disaster on an enormous scale.
  • As a subject of; subordinate to.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2012, date=May 5, author=Phil McNulty, title=Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool
    • , work=BBC Sport citation , passage=He was then denied by a magnificent tackle from captain Terry as Liverpool continued to press - but Chelsea survived as the memories of the nightmare under Villas-Boas faded even further into the background.}}
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=December 14, author=Angelique Chrisafis
    • , title=Rachida Dati accuses French PM of sexism and elitism, work=Guardian citation , passage=Dati launched a blistering attack on the prime minister, François Fillon, under whom she served as justice minister, accusing him of sexism, elitism, arrogance and hindering the political advancement of ethnic minorities.}}
  • Less than.
  • Below the surface of.
  • (figuratively) In the face of; in response to (some attacking force).
  • * 2011 , Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15210221.stm]
    • England's World Cup dreams fell apart under a French onslaught on a night when their shortcomings were brutally exposed at the quarter-final stage.
  • As, in the character of.
  • * 2013 , The Huffington Post, JK Rowling Pseudonym: Robert Galbraith's 'The Cuckoo's Calling' Is Actually By Harry Potter Author [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/13/jk-rowling-pseudonym-robert-galbraith_n_3592769.html]
    • J.K. Rowling has written a crime novel called 'The Cuckoo's Calling' under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

    Synonyms

    * below * beneath * underneath

    Antonyms

    * above * over

    Adverb

    (-)
  • In a way lower or less than.
  • * (rfexample)
  • In a way inferior to.
  • * (rfexample)
  • In an unconscious state.
    • It took the hypnotist several minutes to make his subject go under .

    Synonyms

    * below * beneath

    Antonyms

    * above * over

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being lower; being beneath something.
  • * Bible, 1 Corinthians ix. 27
    • I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection.
  • * Moore
    • The minstrel fell, but the foeman's chain / Could not bring his proud soul under .
  • *
  • *
  • *

    • Derived terms

    * down under * six feet under * underachieve * underage * underarm * undercurrent * undercut * underground * underhanded * underneath * underrate * underreport * under the weather * undertow * underwater * underworld : See also:

    References

    * Andrea Tyler and Vyvyan Evans, "The vertical axis", in The Semantics of English Prepositions: Spatial Scenes, Embodied Meaning and Cognition , Cambridge University Press, 2003, 0-521-81430 8

    Statistics

    *

    Anagrams

    * English prepositions 1000 English basic words ----

    undertake

    English

    Verb

  • (label) To take upon oneself; to start, to embark on (a specific task etc.).
  • *(John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • *:To second, or oppose, or undertake / The perilous attempt.
  • (label) To commit oneself (to an obligation, activity etc.).
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:I'll undertake to land them on our coast.
  • (label) To overtake on the wrong side.
  • :
  • To pledge; to assert, assure; to dare say.
  • *, Bk.VII:
  • *:"I have now aspyed one knyght," he seyde, "that woll play hys play at the justys, I undirtake ."
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:And those two counties I will undertake / Your grace shall well and quietly enjoiy.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:And he was not right fat, I undertake .
  • * (1665-1728)
  • *:I dare undertake they will not lose their labour.
  • To take by trickery; to trap, to seize upon.
  • *:
  • *:there came fourty knyghtes to sire Darras // So sire Tristram endured there grete payne / for sekenesse had vndertake hym / and that is the grettest payne a prysoner maye haue
  • (label) To assume, as a character; to take on.
  • :(Shakespeare)
  • (label) To engage with; to attack.
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:It is not fit your lordship should undertake every companion that you give offence to.
  • (label) To have knowledge of; to hear.
  • :(Spenser)
  • (label) To have or take charge of.
  • *(Geoffrey Chaucer) (c.1343-1400)
  • *:Keep well those that ye undertake .
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:who undertakes you to your end

    • Usage notes

    * Sense: To commit oneself. This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. * See

    Derived terms

    * undertaker * undertaking