commute

UK: /kəˈmjuːt/ US: /kəˈmjut/ ,(kə myo̅o̅t′)

Inflections of 'commute' (v): (⇒ conjugate)

commutes

v 3rd person singular

commuting

v pres p

commuted

v past

commuted

v past p

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

com•mute /kəˈmyut/   v., -mut•ed, -mut•ing, n. 
v. 

1. to change (a penalty) to a less severe one:
   [~ + object] commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.
2. Business to change (one kind of payment) into or for another, as by substitution:
   [~ + object] The government commuted his pension to a lump sum.
3. Transport to travel regularly over some distance, as from a suburb into a city and back again:
   [no object] She commutes from upstate to the city every day.

n. [countable]

4. a trip made by commuting:
   How long is your commute?

See -mut-.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

com•mute  (kə myo̅o̅t′), v., -mut•ed, -mut•ing, n. 
v.t. 

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.

v.i. 

5. Transport to travel regularly over some distance, as from a suburb into a city and back:
   He commutes to work by train.
6. to make substitution.
7. to serve as a substitute.
8. to make a collective payment, esp. of a reduced amount, as an equivalent for a number of payments.
9. Mathematics to give the same result whether operating on the left or on the right.

n. 

10. a trip made by commuting:
    It's a long commute from his home to his office.
11. an act or instance of commuting.

• Latin commūtāre to change, replace, exchange, equivalent. to com- com- + mūtāre to change
• 1400–50; 1885–90 for def. 5; late Middle English

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

commute / kəˈmjuːt/ verb

1. (intransitive) to travel some distance regularly between one's home and one's place of work
2. (transitive) to substitute; exchange
3. (transitive) 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. (transitive) to transform; change: to commute base metal into gold

Etymology: 17th Century: from Latin commutāre to replace, from com- mutually + mutāre to change