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commute

 - 5 dictionary results

com⋅mute

  [kuh-myoot] verb, -mut⋅ed, -mut⋅ing, noun
–verb (used with object)
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.
–verb (used without object)
5. 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.
–noun
10. a trip made by commuting: It's a long commute from his home to his office.
11. an act or instance of commuting.
Use commute in a Sentence
Origin:
1400–50; 1885–90 for def. 5; late ME < L commūtāre to change, replace, exchange, equiv. to com- com- + mūtāre to change
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.
Cite This Source Link To commute
com·mute   (kə-myōōt')   
v.   com·mut·ed, com·mut·ing, com·mutes

v.   intr.

  1. To travel as a commuter.

    1. To make substitution or exchange.

    2. To serve as a substitute.

  3. To pay in gross, usually at a reduced rate, rather than in individual payments.

  4. Mathematics & Logic To satisfy or engage in a commutative operation.

v.   tr.

  1. To substitute (one thing for another); exchange.

  2. To change (a penalty, debt, or payment) to a less severe one.

n.  An act or instance of commuting, especially the trip made by a commuter: a 22-mile commute; an easy commute.

[Middle English commuten, to transform, from Latin commūtāre : com-, com- + mūtāre, to change; see mei-1 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

commute 
c.1450, from L. commutare "to often change, to change altogether," from com- intensive prefix + mutare "to change" (see mutable). Sense of "make less severe" is 1633. Sense of "go back and forth to work" is 1889, from commutation ticket "season pass" (on a railroad, streetcar line, etc.), from commute in its sense of "to change one kind of payment into another" (1795), especially "to combine a number of payments into a single one;" commuter is from 1865; the noun commute is from 1960.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: com·mute
Pronunciation: k&-'myüt
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: com·mut·ed; com·mut·ing
1 : to convert (as a payment) into another form
2 : to change (a penalty) to one less severe esp. out of clemency —compare PARDON —com·mu·ta·tion /"kä-my&-'tA-sh&n/ noun —com·mu·ta·tive /k&-'myü-t&-tiv, 'kä-my&-"tA-tiv/ adjective
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Science Dictionary
commute   (kə-myt')  Pronunciation Key 
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.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2002. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.
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