Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A substitution, exchange, or interchange.
  • noun The substitution of one kind of payment for another.
  • noun The payment substituted.
  • noun The travel of a commuter.
  • noun Conversion of alternating to unidirectional current.
  • noun Reversal of current direction.
  • noun Law Reduction of a penalty to a less severe one.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A passing from one state to another; alteration; change.
  • noun The act of giving one thing for another; exchange; barter.
  • noun The act of substituting one thing for another; substitution.
  • noun Specifically— In law, the change of a penalty or punishment from a greater to a less, as banishment instead of death.
  • noun The substitution of one sort of payment for another, or of a money payment in lieu of the performance of compulsory duty or labor, or of a single payment in lieu of a number of successive payments, usually at a reduced rate. See commutation-ticket.
  • noun Milit., the money value of allowances, such as quarters, fuel, forage, etc., taken in place of them.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun rare A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation.
  • noun obsolete The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange.
  • noun (Law) The change of a penalty or punishment by the pardoning power of the State.
  • noun A substitution, as of a less thing for a greater, esp. a substitution of one form of payment for another, or one payment for many, or a specific sum of money for conditional payments or allowances.
  • noun regular travel from a place of residence to a place where one's daily work is performed; commuting. Most often, such travel is performed between a suburb and a nearby city.
  • noun (Astron.) the difference of the geocentric longitudes of the sun and a planet.
  • noun the substitution of a regular payment, chargeable to the land, for the annual tithes in kind.
  • noun a ticket, as for transportation, which is the evidence of a contract for service at a reduced rate. See 2d Commute, 2.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun obsolete A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation.
  • noun obsolete The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange.
  • noun Substitution of one thing for another; interchange.
  • noun Specifically, the substitution of one kind of payment for another, especially a switch to monetary payment from obligations of labour.
  • noun law The change to a lesser penalty or punishment by the State
  • noun linguistics Substitution, as a means of discriminating between phonemes.
  • noun electronics The reversal of an electric current.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (law) the reduction in severity of a punishment imposed by law
  • noun a warrant substituting a lesser punishment for a greater one
  • noun the travel of a commuter
  • noun the act of putting one thing or person in the place of another:

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English commutacioun, from Latin commūtātiō, commūtātiōn-, from commūtātus, past participle of commūtāre, to alter, exchange; see commute.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French commutation, from Latin commūtātiōnem, accusative singular of commūtātiō.

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Examples

  • "The cash payment in commutation of leave under this paragraph shall equal the compensation that such employee would have received had he remained in the service until the expiration of the period of such leave."

    EXECUTIVE ORDER 9580 1945

  • The commutation is a virtual admission of guilt by Bush that the outing of Plame was part of a generalized conspiracy in the White House that involved major players, i.e. either Bush or Cheney themselves.

    Bush Impeachment �� Libby Commutation Makes it Imperative 2007

  • Thus, the commutation is a part of a cowardly coverup.

    The Bush/Cheney Holocaust in Iraq, Part Three: Desperation unto Bombing Iran? 2007

  • Like a pardon, a commutation is a form of clemency, granted to the president by the Constitution.

    Archive 2007-07-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • Recently, the president did not pardon him but granted him with a commutation, which is definitely to his advantage.

    CNN Transcript Jul 5, 2007 2007

  • Of course, as Joe Wilson also pointed out, if the commutation was the result of a quid pro quo, then Libby will continue to have no motivation to tell the truth to prosecutors.

    Libby and the Flirtation Deflection 2007

  • House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the commutation a "betrayal of trust of the American people."

    CNN Transcript Jul 2, 2007 2007

  • Yesterday's term was commutation, which is defined as:

    Define That Term #31 2006

  • It's whether or not the circumstances of the case warrants some clemency, in this case, a commutation, which is rarely granted.

    CNN Transcript Feb 26, 2001 2001

  • Q Joe, Howard Wolfson, who is the spokesman for Mrs. Clinton's exploratory committee, says, "she stands by her Saturday statement," which was that the FALN convicts '"absence of a response speaks volumes," and the commutation is a mistake.

    Press Briefing By Joe Lockhart ITY National Archives 1999

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