Definition of "commute"

To exchange substantially; to abate but not abolish completely, a penalty, obligation, or payment in return for a great, single thing or an aggregate; to cash in; to lessen

1. (transitive, finance, law) To pay, or arrange to pay, in advance, in a lump sum instead of part by part.  examples

2. (transitive, law, criminology) To reduce the sentence previously given for a criminal offense.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “The utmost that could be obtained was that her sentence should be commuted from burning to beheading.”, in Lady Trevelyan (Hannah More Macaulay), editor, The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume V, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts

3. (transitive, insurance, pensions) To pay out the lumpsum present value of an annuity, instead of paying in instalments; to cash in; to encash  examples

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To obtain or bargain for exemption or substitution;  quotations

   Quotations

   • He […] thinks it unlawful to commute, and that he is bound to pay his vow in kind.

     1660, Jeremy Taylor, Ductor Dubitantium, or the Rule of Conscience in All Her General Measures; […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] James Flesher, for Richard Royston […]

(intransitive, mathematics) Of an operation, to be commutative, i.e. to have the property that changing the order of the operands does not change the result.  examples

A regular journey between two places, typically home and work.  examples

The route, time or distance of that journey.  examples

(intransitive, US, UK, Canada) To regularly travel from one's home to one's workplace or school, or vice versa.  examples

(intransitive, Philippines) To regularly travel from one place to another using public transport.  examples

(intransitive) To journey, to make a journey  quotations  examples