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Synonyms

commuter

American  
[kuh-myoo-ter] / kəˈmyu tər /

noun

  1. a person who commutes, especially between home and work.

adjective

  1. of or for commuting; serving commuters.

    a commuter railroad.

  2. of or relating to a flight, plane, or airline that carries passengers over relatively short distances and usually serves small communities.

commuter British  
/ kəˈmjuːtə /

noun

    1. a person who travels to work over an appreciable distance, usually from the suburbs to the centre of a city

    2. ( as modifier )

      the commuter belt
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of commuter

An Americanism dating back to 1860–65; commute + -er 1

Explanation

A commuter is someone who has a lengthy trip to work, usually from a suburb to a city. Some people are lucky enough to work at home or live very close to where they work. Others are commuters: commuters need to commute — travel — to work. Being a commuter isn't easy, because it might take anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours to get from home to work and then back again, both times during rush hour. Usually, a commuter lives in the suburbs and commutes to the city, where many jobs are.

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Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The trip is relatively straightforward and included in regular commuter fare structures.

From Salon • Apr. 19, 2026

For example, EVs well-suited to serving as daily commuter cars that rarely leave a city can cost much less than fast-charging range monsters ready to challenge gas vehicles on road trips.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026

In Rahway, N.J., a popular commuter town that’s part of the New York-Newark-Jersey City metropolitan area, the average home was valued at around $310,000 in December 2019.

From MarketWatch • Feb. 11, 2026

This applies to season tickets covering most commuter routes, some off-peak return tickets on long-distance journeys and flexible tickets for travel in and around major cities until March 2027.

From BBC • Jan. 23, 2026

Dan Dalgard drove to the primate building, one more commuter in a sea of morning traffic.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.