COMMIT (committed, committing)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected forms: committed    , committing   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does commit mean? 

• COMMIT (verb)
  The verb COMMIT has 6 senses:

1. perform an act, usually with a negative connotation

2. give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause

3. cause to be admitted; of persons to an institution

4. confer a trust upon

5. make an investment

6. engage in or perform

  Familiarity information: COMMIT used as a verb is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COMMIT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they commit    ... he / she / it commits   
Past simple: committed   
Past participle: committed   
-ing form: committing   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Perform an act, usually with a negative connotation

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

commit; perpetrate; pull

Context example:

pull a bank robbery

Hypernyms (to "commit" is one way to...):

act; move (perform an action, or work out or perform (an action))

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commit"):

make (carry out or commit)

recommit (commit once again, as of a crime)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sentence example:

They commit him to write the letter

Derivation:

commission; committal (the act of committing a crime)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

commit; consecrate; dedicate; devote; give

Context example:

consecrate your life to the church

Hypernyms (to "commit" is one way to...):

apply; employ; use; utilise; utilize (put into service; make work or employ for a particular purpose or for its inherent or natural purpose)

Verb group:

give (offer in good faith)

give; sacrifice (endure the loss of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commit"):

consecrate; vow (dedicate to a deity by a vow)

rededicate (dedicate anew)

apply (apply oneself to)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody something
Somebody ----s something to somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Derivation:

commitment (the act of binding yourself (intellectually or emotionally) to a course of action)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Cause to be admitted; of persons to an institution

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

charge; commit; institutionalise; institutionalize; send

Context example:

he was committed to prison

Hypernyms (to "commit" is one way to...):

transfer (move from one place to another)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commit"):

hospitalise; hospitalize (admit into a hospital)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody PP

Derivation:

commitment; committal (the official act of consigning a person to confinement (as in a prison or mental hospital))

Sense 4

Meaning:

Confer a trust upon

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

commit; confide; entrust; intrust; trust

Context example:

I commit my soul to God

Hypernyms (to "commit" is one way to...):

give; hand; pass; pass on; reach; turn over (place into the hands or custody of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commit"):

commend (give to in charge)

charge; consign (give over to another for care or safekeeping)

recommit (commit again)

obligate (commit in order to fulfill an obligation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something to somebody

Derivation:

committee (a special group delegated to consider some matter)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Make an investment

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

commit; invest; place; put

Context example:

Put money into bonds

Hypernyms (to "commit" is one way to...):

drop; expend; spend (pay out)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "commit"):

fund (invest money in government securities)

roll over (re-invest (a previous investment) into a similar fund or security)

shelter (invest (money) so that it is not taxable)

tie up (invest so as to make unavailable for other purposes)

job; speculate (invest at a risk)

buy into (buy stocks or shares of a company)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something PP

Derivation:

commitment (an engagement by contract involving financial obligation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Engage in or perform

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

commit; practice

Context example:

commit a random act of kindness

Hypernyms (to "commit" is one way to...):

engage; prosecute; pursue (carry out or participate in an activity; be involved in)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

Venus will move through your seventh house of committed partnerships—marriage and serious, established partnerships, such as when you are living together.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

And that these two bodies made up the most august assembly in Europe; to whom, in conjunction with the prince, the whole legislature is committed.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The crime was committed before twelve last night.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He will be here this evening, I dare say, and then I will give it him back, and some nonsense or other will pass between us, and you shall not be committed.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

In writing the stuff it seemed that I had committed acts that were, to say the least, derogatory.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

‘A robbery has been committed,’ I gasped.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I commit my cause to the justice of my judges, yet I see no room for hope.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

This pathway starts with glucose-6-phosphate, the first committed step in glycolysis, and can provide an alternative route to glycolysis for energy production.

(Oxidative Reactions of the Pentose Phosphate Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This is the first committed step in the biosynthesis of phosphatidylinositol 3,4-bisphosphate and phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5-trisphosphate.

(Phosphatidylinositol 3 Kinase, NCI Thesaurus/LocusLink)

In that case you will, perhaps, do me the favour to hand to Mrs. Stone this note which her brother, Sir Charles Tregellis, has just committed to my care.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)