/ kəˈmjuːt; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
1.
[ v ] to travel regularly by bus, train, car, etc. between your place of work and your home :
She commutes from Oxford to London every day.
He spent that year commuting between New York and Chicago.
I live within commuting distance of Dublin.
[ vn ]
People are prepared to commute long distances if they are desperate for work.
2.
[ vn ] commute sth (to sth) ( law ) to replace one punishment with another that is less severe
3.
[ vn ] commute sth (for / into sth) ( finance ) to exchange one form of payment, for sth else
■ noun
the journey that a person makes when they commute to work :
a two-hour commute into downtown Washington
I have only a short commute to work.
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English (in the sense interchange (two things) ): from Latin commutare , from com- altogether + mutare to change. Sense 1 originally meant to buy and use a commutation ticket , the US term for a season ticket (because the daily fare is commuted to a single payment).