commuter
Americannoun
-
commuters
plural
adjective
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of or for commuting; serving commuters.
a commuter railroad.
-
of or relating to a flight, plane, or airline that carries passengers over relatively short distances and usually serves small communities.
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of commuter
Explanation
A commuter is someone who has a lengthy trip to work, usually from a suburb to a city. Some people are lucky enough to work at home or live very close to where they work. Others are commuters: commuters need to commute — travel — to work. Being a commuter isn't easy, because it might take anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours to get from home to work and then back again, both times during rush hour. Usually, a commuter lives in the suburbs and commutes to the city, where many jobs are.
Vocabulary lists containing commuter
Eleven
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No Easy Answers: Our Digital World and "Gadgets and Games"
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The Worst Class Trip Ever
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“Our transit systems must be safe for every driver, commuter and community member,” Hochman said in the statement.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Brightline piled on more than $5 billion in debt, including municipal bonds, taxable debt and so-called commuter bonds, to fund its expansion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
Major cities in the Newark division include Elizabeth, Morristown, Montclair, Newark, as well as smaller commuter towns such as Short Hills and Glen Ridge.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: "We'll start getting rid of the dreaded 'ironing board seats' so passengers can enjoy comfier, more pleasant journeys on some of Britain's busiest commuter routes."
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
And so I found myself, six days later, standing at our local airport watching a tin commuter plane containing Katz touch down and taxi to a halt on the tarmac twenty yards from the terminal.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
The city was developing alternative pontoon crossings to help ease the gridlock in a city with a daytime population -- including commuters -- of around 3.5 million.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
"This will be very challenging for households and companies that drive a lot of miles, from commuters, haulage and delivery firms, businesses with large fleets all the way through to sole traders," he added.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Survivors, including tens of thousands of residents, non-emergency civil servants, commuters and students, have to display symptoms first.
From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2026
Keeping it up for an hour, next to civilian commuters who looked ready to climb onto the tracks themselves by Buena Park?
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 30, 2026
She crosses over Georgia 400, the clogged artery that pumps hundreds of thousands of commuters into Alpharetta’s glass and brushed-metal office parks and, an hour’s drive south, into downtown Atlanta.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
