commuter

[kuh-myoo-ter]

noun

1. a person who commutes, especially between home and work.

adjective

1. of or for commuting; serving commuters.

   a commuter railroad.

2. of or relating to a flight, plane, or airline that carries passengers over relatively short distances and usually serves small communities.

commuter

/ kəˈmjuːtə /

noun

1. 1. a person who travels to work over an appreciable distance, usually from the suburbs to the centre of a city

   2. ( as modifier )

      the commuter belt

Word History and Origins

Origin of commuter¹

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; commute + -er ¹

Example Sentences

The commuters in “Le Métro” hark back to his early streetcar scenes but now there’s an air of mystery to the straphangers, with the central figure’s face obscured and bisected by a subway pole.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The new law, formerly known as SB79, is poised to make it easier for developers to build multistory apartment buildings near major bus or commuter rail stops.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

They represent New Jersey’s massive “commuter class,” found in affluent suburbs close to New York City.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The bicycle remained an essential part of Rwandan life, from competitive city teams to weekday commuters to deliverymen pedaling tall cans of milk over cratered dirt roads.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

White’s taxonomy of New Yorkers: the natives, the commuters and the settlers who are “born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• driver 
• traveler