Test Your Vocabulary

Take Our 10-Question Quiz

Name That Thing

Take our visual vocab quiz

Test Your Knowledge »

True or False?

A quick quiz about stuff worth knowing

Take It Now »

Join Us on FB & Twitter

Get the Word of the Day and More

Facebook | Twitter

commute

2 ENTRIES FOUND:

1com·mute

verb \kə-ˈmyüt\
com·mut·edcom·mut·ing

Definition of COMMUTE

transitive verb
1
a : change, alter b : to give in exchange for another : exchange
2
: to convert (as a payment) into another form
3
: to change (a penalty) to another less severe <commute a death sentence to life in prison>
intransitive verb
2
: to pay in gross
3
: to travel back and forth regularly (as between a suburb and a city)
4
: to yield the same mathematical result regardless of order —used of two elements undergoing an operation or of two operations on elements
com·mut·able \-ˈmyü-tə-bəl\ adjective

Examples of COMMUTE

  1. He commutes to work every day by train.
  2. She commutes 400 miles a week.
  3. The judge commuted his death sentence to life imprisonment.

Origin of COMMUTE

Middle English, from Latin commutare to change, exchange, from com- + mutare to change — more at mutable
First Known Use: 15th century

Browse

Next Word in the Dictionary: commuted value
Previous Word in the Dictionary: commutator
All Words Near: commute

Seen & Heard

What made you want to look up commute? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).