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REFERENCE

commit

US //kəˈmɪt// UK //kəmˈɪt// com·mit
  1. 1 to do something wrong (v.)
    B1 Intermediate

    to do something illegal or morally wrong.

    to perpetrate a crime, error, or immoral act. Transitive, requiring a direct object.

    Example

    He was arrested after he tried to commit a robbery at the local bank.

    Example

    The investigation sought to determine whether the defendant intended to commit fraud or if the discrepancies were merely accounting errors.
  2. 2 to pledge or promise (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate

    to promise to give your time, money, or loyalty to a person or goal.

    to pledge or bind oneself to a particular course of action, policy, or person. Often used reflexively or with the preposition 'to'.

    Example

    You should not commit to the project if you are too busy to finish it.

    Example

    The government refused to commit to a specific timeline for the tax reforms until the economic forecast was finalized.
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  1. 3 to send to a hospital or prison (v.)
    C1 Advanced Formal Law

    to officially send someone to a prison or a mental hospital.

    to consign someone officially to confinement in a prison or a psychiatric facility. Usually passive or formal in register.

    Example

    The judge decided to commit the man to a psychiatric ward for observation.

    Example

    Under the new legislation, the state can commit individuals to involuntary treatment only if they pose an immediate danger to themselves or others.
  2. 4 to save computer changes (v.)
    B2 Upper Intermediate Technical Computing

    to save a set of changes to a database or a shared project so they become permanent.

    to execute a command that makes a set of data changes permanent in a repository or database. Ambitransitive use.

    Example

    Don't forget to commit your code changes before you leave for the day.

    Example

    The developer had to resolve several merge conflicts before the system would allow her to commit the new features to the master branch.
  3. 5 a saved change (n.)
    C1 Advanced Technical Computing

    a specific set of changes saved to a computer project.

    an individual update or submission of source code to a version control repository.

    Example

    The latest commit fixed the bug that was causing the app to crash.

    Example

    Reviewing the project history revealed that a commit from last Tuesday had accidentally deleted the configuration files.
  4. 6 a student athlete's promise (n.)
    C2 Proficiency American English Informal Sport

    a student who has promised to play for a specific college team.

    a high school athlete who has verbally or formally pledged to attend and compete for a specific university.

    Example

    The university is excited about their new five-star commit for the basketball season.

    Example

    As a top-tier commit, the quarterback faced immense pressure to perform during his first week of collegiate training camp.

In the news

Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, was detained in China in September 2023 on suspicion of committing crimes.

— ABC News staff, ABC News, 14 Apr 2026

Over the weekend, however, peace talks in Pakistan faltered, with Vice President JD Vance saying Iran would not commit to forgoing a nuclear weapon.

— CNN staff, CNN Money, 13 Apr 2026

Starlink has finally committed to offering gigabit speeds to rural Oregon by mid-2027, ending a two-year standoff with the Public Utility Commission.

— Emma Roth, The Verge, 10 Apr 2026

The startup committed $50 million in equity to a new fund backing climate researchers in the Global South.

— Rohan Goswami, TechCrunch, 08 Apr 2026
Etymology 1

The word commit emerges from Latin committere, a verb meaning "to bring together, entrust," formed from com- ("with") and mittere ("to send"). Its journey to English passed through Old French commettre and Middle English committen, with the Latin root preserved in the consonants and the meaning carried forward as a compound of action and intention.

It reached English via the intermediary stages of commettre and committen, a transmission noted in linguistic records as a straightforward borrowing. The verb’s survival in English required no dramatic recontextualisation; its core function—to signify the act of entrusting, assigning, or carrying out a task—remained intact through the transition.

The word commit now stands as a direct descendant of committere, its Latin ancestry buried beneath centuries of usage but still legible in its structure. The path from Rome to English involved no scandal, no duel, no eccentric gambler. It was, as the linguists might say, a quiet and unremarkable affair.

Etymology 2

Latin committere, formed from com- "together" and mittere "to send".

Twentieth-century computing adopted the verb for the act of sending a digital change into permanent storage; the earlier sense "to entrust" now survives inside the machine rather than the monastery.

Collocations
  • commit a crime94
  • commit suicide89
  • commit to memory81
  • commit fraud78
  • commit an error66
  • commit resources61
Usage

Often takes the preposition 'to' followed by a noun or gerund. When referring to a crime, it is transitive and takes a direct object.

Pitfall

I commit to help youI commit to helping youWhen 'commit to' is followed by a verb, that verb must be in the -ing (gerund) form because 'to' is a preposition here.

Word family
Culture & nuance

'Commit' carries weight in English — stronger than 'decide'. Saying 'I'm committed' implies you've tied yourself to the outcome, not just chosen it.

Idioms1 entry
  1. 01

    commit to paper

    to write something down so it becomes fixed or official.

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