TAKE ON Synonyms: 102 Similar and Opposite Words

take on

verb

Definition of take on

as in to meet

to enter into contest or conflict with will take on his chief opponent in the next political debate

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to employ

to provide with a paying job decided to take her on as store manager

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in to borrow

to take for one's own use (something originated by another) recently arrived immigrants who are eager to take on the language and culture of their adopted homeland

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of take on She was born Caryn Johnson, but soon took on Goldberg when pursuing acting. — Giovana Gelhoren, InStyle, 4 Oct. 2026 On first encounter, Humphreys seems an unlikely choice to take on topflight white-shoe defense firms hired by the United States' most profitable news channel. — David Folkenflik, NPR, 4 Oct. 2026 Her whole mission in taking on that case was to do it differently than the other case. — Elisabeth Garber-Paul, Rolling Stone, 3 Oct. 2026 My first game starts early in the day as Alabama takes on Mississippi State. — David Troy Outkick, FOXNews.com, 3 Oct. 2026 See All Example Sentences for take on

Recent Examples of Synonyms for take on

Verb

Built in the mid-1980s at the height of Cold War tensions, it was upgraded to meet current standards.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 3 Oct. 2026
Nikhil Basu Trivedi, cofounder of the venture firm Footwork and GPTZero’s sole outside board member before the Superhuman deal, first met Tian through the Princeton network.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of meet

Verb

That expands the number of platforms capable of employing the system during defensive or offensive operations.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 2 Oct. 2026
His uncertain fate plays out in the present-day imagination of an unnamed curator of unspecified gender, who has been employed by the palace to dress some of its rooms for public viewing in the wake of an undescribed personal tragedy.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of employ

Verb

Next year’s preliminary budget shows the kingdom is willing to keep borrowing to bolster its defenses and build trade routes that bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

— Mohammed Sergie, semafor.com, 1 Oct. 2026
There are a lot of good reasons for businesses to borrow money instead of pursuing private capital.

— Frank Williamson, Forbes.com, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of borrow

Verb

The seven Chi Phi members in question were suspended, expelled, or faced other consequences, such as writing an essay, but most were allowed to continue their education at the university following a monthslong Title IX investigation.

— Claire Carter, The Washington Examiner, 1 Oct. 2026
For two years, Peters has been making the case in public that audit faces a crisis of scarcity.

— Nick Lichtenberg, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of face

Verb

The company began ramping up manufacturing and hiring earlier this year.

— Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 6 Oct. 2026
The film, billed as a biographical dramedy, tells the story of a chaotic boardroom crisis at OpenAI in November 2023, when co-founder Altman was fired and then re-hired at the AI giant.

— Abid Rahman, HollywoodReporter, 6 Oct. 2026

Definition of hire

Verb

Meta called on others like YouTube and TikTok to adopt similar parameters for their platforms.

— Lisa Hagen, Hartford Courant, 2 Oct. 2026
Firms like Edward Jones and LPL Financial, meanwhile, are rapidly adopting AI tools to gain financial insights, but also to better understand and communicate with their customers.

— Jeff John Roberts, Fortune, 1 Oct. 2026

Definition of adopt

Verb

Public employees can encounter agency-specific procedures, while unionized workers may have grievance requirements established through collective bargaining.

— William Jones, Sacbee.com, 2 Oct. 2026
Audiences can expect natural richness, such as underwater images of glistening shellfish, to encounter ecological dread.

— Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 2 Oct. 2026

Definition of encounter

Cite this Entry

Style

“Take on.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/take%20on. Accessed 7 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of take on

verb

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