COMMUTATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does commutation mean? 

• COMMUTATION (noun)
  The noun COMMUTATION has 4 senses:

1. the travel of a commuter

2. a warrant substituting a lesser punishment for a greater one

3. (law) the reduction in severity of a punishment imposed by law

4. the act of putting one thing or person in the place of another:

  Familiarity information: COMMUTATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMUTATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The travel of a commuter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

commutation; commuting

Hypernyms ("commutation" is a kind of...):

travel; traveling; travelling (the act of going from one place to another)

Derivation:

commute (travel back and forth regularly, as between one's place of work and home)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A warrant substituting a lesser punishment for a greater one

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("commutation" is a kind of...):

warrant (a writ from a court commanding police to perform specified acts)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

commute (exchange or replace with another, usually of the same kind or category)

commute (exchange a penalty for a less severe one)

Sense 3

Meaning:

(law) the reduction in severity of a punishment imposed by law

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

commutation; re-sentencing

Hypernyms ("commutation" is a kind of...):

clemency; mercifulness; mercy (leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Derivation:

commute (exchange a penalty for a less severe one)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The act of putting one thing or person in the place of another:

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

commutation; exchange; substitution

Context example:

he sent Smith in for Jones but the substitution came too late to help

Hypernyms ("commutation" is a kind of...):

change (the action of changing something)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "commutation"):

replacement; replacing (the act of furnishing an equivalent person or thing in the place of another)

subrogation ((law) the act of substituting of one creditor for another)

ablactation; weaning (the act of substituting other food for the mother's milk in the diet of a child or young mammal)

Derivation:

commute (change the order or arrangement of)

commute (exchange positions without a change in value)

 Context examples 

My commutation ticket came back to me with a dark stain from his hand. That any one should care in this heat whose flushed lips he kissed, whose head made damp the pajama pocket over his heart!

(The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald)