commutation
noun/ˌkɒmjuˈteɪʃn/
/ˌkɑːmjuˈteɪʃn/
[countable, uncountable]- (law) the act of making a punishment less severe
- a commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment
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- (finance) the act of replacing one method of payment with another; a payment that is replaced with another
Word Originlate Middle English (in the sense ‘exchange, barter’, later ‘alteration’): from Latin commutatio(n-), from commutare ‘exchange, interchange’ from com- ‘altogether’ + mutare ‘to change’. Sense (1) dates from the late 16th cent.
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