commutation

[ kom-yuh-tey-shuhn ]
See synonyms for commutation on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. the act of substituting one thing for another; substitution; exchange.

  2. the changing of a prison sentence or other penalty to another less severe.

  1. the act of commuting, as to and from a place of work.

  2. the substitution of one kind of payment for another.

  3. Electricity. the act or process of commutating.

  4. Also called commutation test .Linguistics. the technique, especially in phonological analysis, of substituting one linguistic item for another while keeping the surrounding elements constant, used as a means of determining the constituent units in a sequence and their contrasts with other units.

Origin of commutation

1
First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English commutacioun, from Latin commūtātiōn-, stem of commutātiō “change”; equivalent to commute + -ation

Other words from commutation

  • pro·com·mu·ta·tion, adjective

Words Nearby commutation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use commutation in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for commutation

commutation

/ (ˌkɒmjʊˈteɪʃən) /


noun
  1. a substitution or exchange

    • the replacement of one method of payment by another

    • the payment substituted

  1. the reduction in severity of a penalty imposed by law

  2. the process of commutating an electric current

  3. US the travelling done by a commuter

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