Commit

How to spell commit

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce commit

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does commit mean?

1. verbTo pledge or bind oneself firmly to a course of action, person, or cause.
2. verbTo carry out or perpetrate an act, especially a crime or error.

Commit in a sentence

• She was reluctant to commit to a full-time contract so soon.

• Anyone willing to commit fraud risks a lengthy prison sentence.

• The board agreed to commit funds to the new project.

• Under pressure, even careful staff can commit serious errors.

Where does commit come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word comes from the Latin verb committere, formed from com-, meaning 'together', and mittere, meaning 'to send' or 'to put'. The literal sense was 'to bring together' or 'to join', which then broadened into 'to entrust' something to someone and, more darkly, 'to bring about' or 'perpetrate' a deed. English took it up in the late fourteenth century, at first largely in legal and religious contexts such as committing a person to prison or committing a soul to God. The same mittere root, meaning to send, underlies a whole family of English words including 'transmit', 'submit', and 'mission', which can help fix the single -mit in the mind. A common spelling trap appears only when the word is inflected: the bare form keeps one t (commit), but the stress on the final syllable doubles it in committed and committing.

How the word is built

• com- (together)
• mit (from Latin mittere: to send, put)