commute

American  

[kuh-myoot] / kəˈmyut /

verb (used with object)

commuted, commuting

1. to change (a prison sentence or other penalty) to a less severe one.

   The death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

2. to exchange for another or for something else; give and take reciprocally; interchange.

3. to change.

   to commute base metal into gold.

4. to change (one kind of payment) into or for another, as by substitution.

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verb (used without object)

commuted, commuting

1. to travel regularly over some distance, as from a suburb into a city and back.

   He commutes to work by train.

2. to make substitution.

3. to serve as a substitute.

4. to make a collective payment, especially of a reduced amount, as an equivalent for a number of payments.

5. Mathematics. to give the same result whether operating on the left or on the right.

noun

1. a trip made by commuting.

   It's a long commute from his home to his office.

2. an act or instance of commuting.

commute British  

/ kəˈmjuːt /

verb

1. (intr) to travel some distance regularly between one's home and one's place of work

2. (tr) to substitute; exchange

3. (tr) law to reduce (a sentence) to one less severe

4. to pay (an annuity) at one time, esp with a discount, instead of in instalments

5. (tr) to transform; change

   to commute base metal into gold

6. (intr) to act as or be a substitute

7. (intr) to make a substitution; change

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noun

1. a journey made by commuting

commute Scientific  

/ kə-myo̅o̅t′ /

1. To yield the same result regardless of order. For example, numbers commute under addition, which is a commutative operation. Generally, any two operators H and G commute if their commutator is zero, i.e. HG − GH = 0.

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Other Word Forms

• commutability noun
• commutable adjective
• uncommuted adjective

Etymology

Origin of commute

First recorded in 1400–50, and in 1885–90 commute for def. 5; late Middle English, from Latin commūtāre “to change, replace, exchange,” equivalent to com- “with, together” ( com- ) + mūtāre “to change”

Example Sentences

In my mid-twenties, during my first week at a new remote job, I felt both giddy and strangely unmoored — delighted to have shed my commute, unsettled by the sudden absence of physical colleagues.

From Salon

Most of his interviews with Hassabis were in transit, since commutes were the only time of the day when Kohs could get his subject’s focused attention.

From The Wall Street Journal

John Forté, a Grammy-nominated musician who saw a 14-year federal prison sentence commuted halfway through by President George W. Bush, was found dead at home.

From Los Angeles Times

One of my colleagues couldn’t show his digital train ticket on the commute home.

From The Wall Street Journal

Then he would commute with his two Maltese dogs down the Hudson River in his boat to Saks’s Manhattan office.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• shorten