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commit

verb

Simple meaning

Give entirely to a specific person, activity.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhmit

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

kəˈmɪt

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

verb

  1. Give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause

    “She committed herself to the work of God.”

  2. transitive

    To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto.

  3. transitive

    To imprison: to forcibly place in a jail.

  4. Confer a trust upon

  5. transitive

    To forcibly evaluate and treat in a medical facility, particularly for presumed mental illness.

  6. Make an investment

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B1 · Intermediate
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
Varies by meaning

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause

Used this way, commit is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Heard in a sentence
“She committed herself to the work of God.”
Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Common
Connotation
No strong connotation
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

commit suicidecommit murdercommit adultery

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • committedadjectiveInflected form

    Bound or obligated, as under a pledge to a particular cause, action, or attitude.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • commitmentnounDerived noun

    The trait of sincere and steadfast fixity of purpose.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: give entirely to a specific person or activity

devote

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.