commute
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A regular journey between two places, usually home and work.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kuhmyootSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
kəmˈjut
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A regular journey between two places, typically home and work.
A regular journey of some distance to and from your place of work
“There is standing room only on the high-speed commute.”
The route, time or distance of that journey.
verb
Travel back and forth regularly, as between one's place of work and home
intransitiveusukcanada
To regularly travel from one's home to one's workplace or school, or vice versa.
intransitivephilippines
To regularly travel from one place to another using public transport.
intransitive
To journey, to make a journey
Exchange positions without a change in value
“These operators commute with each other.”
Exchange a penalty for a less severe one
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A regular journey between two places, typically home and work.
Used this way, commute is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
How It’s Used
The word’s distinct uses, one example each.
Regular / routenoun
“There is standing room only on the high-speed commute.”
Exchangeverb
“These operators commute with each other.”
More ways to use commute
- “These operators commute with each other.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
A passenger train that is ridden primarily by passengers who travel regularly from one place to another.
The travel of a commuter.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Traffic created by people going to or returning from work.
A passenger train that is ridden primarily by passengers who travel regularly from one place to another.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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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.