Definition of "task force" []

• A temporary grouping of military units or forces under one commander for the performance of a specific operation or assignment. (noun)
• A temporary grouping of individuals and resources for the accomplishment of a specific objective: a presidential task force to fight drug trafficking. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Without informing either his Secretary of State or Secretary of Defense, the president made clear that if the Soviet Union threatened China, we would not stand idly by, and he ordered a carrier task force to proceed into the Bay of Bengal."
• "Three of the next four days except for September 1, when the task force replenished its fuel and supplies, he flew armed reconnaissance over Wonsan, Pu-Chong, and again up to Songjin."
• "FDR acted on the advice of a special intelligence task force that included Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton, Jr., a future Army commander in World War II in Europe."