TOOK ON Synonyms: 104 Similar and Opposite Words

took on

verb

past tense of take on

as in faced

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

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in employed

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

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as in borrowed

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

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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 took on As Kierny admonished both sides to follow the court’s rules, Davis took on prosecutor Michael DiGiacomo directly. — Andy Rose, CNN Money, 22 Aug. 2026 The Mothers of East Los Angeles — the legendary women’s group that took on Eastside politicos in the 1980s and 1990s — was born in Resurrection’s pews. — Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 8 Aug. 2026 In making the deals, the Twins uncharacteristically took on payroll, paying the entirety of the roughly $5 million combined owed to Minter and Kremer. — Dan Hayes, New York Times, 1 Aug. 2026 Yungblud easily took on the song’s euphoric verses as Corgan accompanied on guitar, both clad in all-black, from the four-time-platinum LP. — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 1 Aug. 2026 Jefferson took on the role of writing the first draft of the declaration. — Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 July 2026 Ament didn’t quite reach his offensive potential at Tennessee, but this is not dissimilar to the gamble the Bucks once took on a young Antetokounmpo. — Rohan Nadkarni, NBC news, 24 June 2026 Influencer Gabriela Moura made her World Cup debut on Saturday as her home country of Brazil took on Morocco. — Sean Joseph Outkick, FOXNews.com, 17 June 2026 The grand property later took on a radically different role as the state-of-the-art St George's Hospital, rebuilt in 1825 by architect William Wilkins, the mind behind London’s National Gallery. — Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 June 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for took on

Verb

El-Sayed has taken heat from some in his party over his associations with Piker, the left-wing streamer whose comments about American Jews have faced intense criticism in recent days.

— Nicholas Wu, semafor.com, 27 Aug. 2026
An inquest opened Wednesday into the sudden death earlier this month of Jason Arday, a Cambridge University professor who faced a storm of plagiarism accusations.

— ABC News, ABC News, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of faced

Verb

Europe ran the corresponding deficits, as many countries borrowed heavily abroad to rebuild economies devastated by war.

— MICHAEL PETTIS, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026
That strategy of producing scientific uncertainty delayed regulation for a generation, and the same playbook was later borrowed by other industries, including on climate change.

— Aleeza Gerstein, The Conversation, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of borrowed

Verb

On Sunday, Roman Goffman, the chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, met again with Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Jordan to ease the latest tensions, according to the Syrian state news agency.

— Tal Shalev, CNN Money, 25 Aug. 2026
The Fils-Tiafoe match was the first time two Black players have met in an ATP Masters 1000 final.

— Jeff Wallner, Chicago Tribune, 24 Aug. 2026

Definition of met

Verb

In December, Nvidia bought assets from the AI chip startup for about $20 billion in its largest deal on record and hired Groq founder Jonathan Ross, president Sunny Madra and a group of engineers.

— Anniek Bao, CNBC, 25 Aug. 2026
The spike in arrests comes as the agency, infused with billions of dollars last summer by Congress, has also hired 12,000 new deportation officers and investigative agents.

— Rebecca Santana, Los Angeles Times, 25 Aug. 2026

Definition of hired

Verb

Generally, the conferences covering the top teams in college sports have all adopted a similar stance in seeking to head off the NFL issue with the college football season set to begin with Week Zero games this weekend.

— Aaron Beard, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
This time around, his administration has adopted burden shifting as a rallying cry and seems poised to act on it.

— JENNIFER KAVANAGH, Foreign Affairs, 28 Aug. 2026

Definition of adopted

Verb

Later that day, Franklin police encountered Ray at a truck stop after receiving a report of a suspicious person, Franklin police have said.

— Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 29 Aug. 2026
The police report indicated that Lomon encountered the man near the elevators with an open knife.

— Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026

Definition of encountered

Verb

Summary Canadian universities have successfully recruited 64 international scholars, 48 from top American institutions like Harvard and MIT.

— Michael T. Nietzel, Forbes.com, 29 Aug. 2026
Serving as the territory’s secretary of education between 2013 and 2017, overseeing all of its public schools from kindergarten through high school, he was recruited to Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 as a teacher.

— Steve Sadin, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026