Taskmaster

//ˈtæskˌmæstɚ// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Someone who supervises workers, especially one who imposes hard or burdensome work.

    "And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows"

  2. 2
    someone who imposes hard or continuous work wordnet
  3. 3
    A source of hard work or responsibility. figuratively

    "It all looked so easy when the competent were at the helm, but reality is a cruel taskmaster, and all the excuses that worked as an underling wear thin once the incompetent are in leadership roles."

Example

More examples

"And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows"

Etymology

From task + master.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.