COMMUTATION • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Commutation

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/kˌɑmjətˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Commutation n.

1.

A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation. (R.) "So great is the commutation that the soul then hated only that which now only it loves."

2.

The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange. (Obs.) "The use of money is... that of saving the commutation of more bulky commodities."

3.

(Law) The change of a penalty or punishment by the pardoning power of the State; as, the commutation of a sentence of death to banishment or imprisonment. "Suits are allowable in the spiritual courts for money agreed to be given as a commutation for penance."

4.

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; as, commutation of tithes; commutation of fares; commutation of copyright; commutation of rations.

5.

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.

Angle of commutation (Astron.), the difference of the geocentric longitudes of the sun and a planet.

Commutation of tithes, the substitution of a regular payment, chargeable to the land, for the annual tithes in kind.

Commutation ticket, a ticket, as for transportation, which is the evidence of a contract for service at a reduced rate. See 2d Commute, 2.

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Etymology of 'Commutation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Commutation" Quotes from Famous Books

... expressed public opinion. By this are continuously regulated not only momentous matters of State, such as declarations of war and the introduction of constitutional changes, but also smaller and more individual matters, such as the commutation of a capital sentence, or the forcible feeding of ...

— The Unexpurgated Case Against Woman Suffrage • Almroth E. Wright

... Century, indeed, recognizes the unity of the race, asserts the equality of all men by the natural law, and undertakes to defend slavery on principles not incompatible with that equality. It represents it as a commutation of the punishment of death, which the emperor has the right to inflict on captives taken in war, to perpetual servitude; and as servitude is less severe than death, slavery was really a proof of imperial ...

— The American Republic: Its Constitution, Tendencies, and Destiny • A. O. Brownson

... apparently with justice, that surely imprisonment for life was a sufficient punishment for a young man; but every one knew in his own heart that the commutation was only the beginning of the fight, and that a future governor would have sufficient pressure brought to bear upon him to let the ...

— Revenge! • by Robert Barr

... bank of Marsh, Sibbald, & Co., London; was put on trial for a series of elaborate forgeries, found guilty, and hanged; the trial created a great sensation at the time, and efforts were made to obtain a commutation of the sentence (1785-1824). ...

— The Nuttall Encyclopaedia - Being a Concise and Comprehensive Dictionary of General Knowledge • Edited by Rev. James Wood

... rights of the Crown, above all those of marriage and wardship, which were harassing to the people while they brought little profit to the Exchequer. The Commons had more than once prayed for some commutation of these rights, and Cecil seized on their prayer as the ground of an accommodation. He proposed that James should waive his feudal rights, that he should submit to the sanction by Parliament of the impositions already levied, and that he should ...

— History of the English People, Volume V (of 8) - Puritan England, 1603-1660 • John Richard Green

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