commuting

commuting — noun

1. the everyday journey between your home and your workplace or school, usually by

1.nounB1
Definition

the everyday journey between your home and your workplace or school, usually by train, bus, car, or bike, and usually back again the same day.

Example

Daily commuting between Brighton and London left Owen exhausted by Friday evening.

daily/weekly + commuting (frequency adjective)

Linh saved nearly two hours a day by giving up driving and commuting by train instead.

commuting + by + transport mode

Common collocations
  • daily commuting
  • long-distance commuting
  • commuting time
  • commuting by train
  • the cost of commuting
  • cut down on commuting
Synonyms
  • commute

    countable noun; refers to one journey or the regular journey itself

  • travelling to work

    everyday phrasing; less compact than 'commuting'

Antonyms
  • working from home

    the alternative pattern that removes the daily journey

  • telecommuting

    working remotely using digital tools instead of physically travelling

Usage Note

Uncountable: 'a commuting' is wrong; say 'commuting' or 'the daily commute' (the noun 'commute' is the countable form). Often used with 'by' + transport mode and adverbs of frequency such as 'daily' or 'long-distance'.

Common Mistakes

My commuting is one hour.
My commute is one hour.
for a single trip use the countable noun 'commute'; 'commuting' refers to the activity in general.

Word family

  • commute
    verbB1
  • commute
    nounB1
  • commuter
    nounB1
  • telecommute
    verbC1
  • telecommuting
    nounC1

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These words all relate to moving between home and work, but they differ in countability and scope. 'Commuting' is uncountable and names the activity in general — the lifestyle of going to work and back regularly. 'Commute' is countable and points to either a single journey ('a two-hour commute') or one person's regular trip ('my commute'). 'Travel' is much broader: it covers any journey, including holidays and one-off trips, not just the work-home loop. 'Telecommuting' is a specialised term for working from home using a computer and internet connection rather than physically going to the office; it is, in a sense, an alternative to commuting. Compare: 'Commuting in Tokyo can be exhausting' (the activity), 'My commute takes 45 minutes' (the journey), 'Travel costs are rising' (any journey), 'The company introduced telecommuting on Fridays' (remote work).

commuting ↗commutetravel ↗telecommuting

Common collocations

Nouns

Adverbs

Phrases

  • the cost of commuting
  • cut down on commuting
  • the daily grind of commuting

Prepositions

  • by (train/bus/car/bike)
  • to (a city/office)
  • from (a place)

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

Present participle of the verb 'commute', used as a noun-like form. The verb 'commute' came from Latin 'commutare' meaning 'to change completely', from 'com-' (intensive) plus 'mutare' ('to change'). In nineteenth-century America, railway passengers who paid a single reduced fare in place of many small daily fares were said to 'commute' their fares; the word then shifted to mean the regular work-home journey itself. From there, the present participle 'commuting' came to name the everyday activity.