Etymology

Inherited from Middle EnglishCategory:English terms inherited from Middle English#COMMITCategory:English terms derived from Middle English#COMMIT committen, itself borrowed from LatinCategory:English terms derived from Latin#COMMIT committō (“to bring together, join, compare, commit (a wrong), incur, give in charge, etc.”), from com- (“together”) + mittō (“to send”). See mission.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈmɪt/Category:English 2-syllable words#COMMITCategory:English terms with IPA pronunciation#COMMIT

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

  Category:English terms with audio pronunciation#COMMIT
• Rhymes: -ɪtCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪt#COMMITCategory:Rhymes:English/ɪt/2 syllables#COMMIT
• Hyphenation: com‧mit

Verb

commit (third-person singular simple present commits, present participle committing, simple past and past participle committed)Category:English lemmas#COMMITCategory:English verbs#COMMITCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#COMMITCategory:Pages with entries#COMMITCategory:Pages with 2 entries#COMMIT

1. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT) To give in trust; to put into charge or keeping; to entrust; to consign; used with to or formerly unto.

   Commit these numbers to memory.Category:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

   • c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 52, column 1:

     Bid him farwell, commit him to the Graue,

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 37:5:

     Commit thy way vnto the Lord: trust also in him, and he shall bring it to passe.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 1748, [David Hume], “Essay XII. Of the Academical or Sceptical Philosophy.”, in Philosophical Essays Concerning Human Understanding, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, part III, page 256:

     If we take in hand any Volume; of Divinity or School Metaphyſics, for Inſtance; let us aſk, Does it contain any abſtract Reaſonings concerning Quantity or Number? No. Does it contain any experimental Reaſonings concerning Matters of Fact or Exiſtence? No. Commit it then to the Flames: For it can contain nothing but Sophiſtry and Illuſion.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 2026 March 18, Christian Wolmar, “Wales sets example with long-term rail strategy”, in RAIL, number 1057, page 43:

     That, as one of my more sceptical industry insiders put it, is because there is a reluctance to commit funds to any of these plans - and we can put the blame firmly on the fact that HS2 is eating up £7bn per year for the whole term of this parliament.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

2. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT) To imprison: to forcibly place in a jail.
   • 1641, A Great Conspiracy by the Papiſts in the Kingdome of Ireland, Diſcovered by the Lords Juſtices, and Counſell at Dublin, and Proclaimed There Octob. 23, 1641‎, page 2:

     and ſome of the Conſpirators committed to the Caſtle of Dublin by us

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

3. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT) To forcibly evaluate and treat in a medical facility, particularly for presumed mental illness.

   Tony should be committed to a nuthouse!Category:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

4. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT) To do (something bad); to perpetrate, as a crime, sin, or fault.

   to commit murderCategory:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

   to commit a series of heinous crimesCategory:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

   to commit suicide

   (also see usage notes)

   Category:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Exodus 20:4:

     Thou shalt not commit adultery.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

5. (ambitransitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMITCategory:English intransitive verbs#COMMIT) To pledge or bind; to compromise, expose, or endanger by some decisive act or preliminary step. (Traditionally used only reflexively but now also without oneself etc.)^[1]

   to commit oneself to a certain actionCategory:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

   to commit to a relationshipCategory:English terms with usage examples#COMMIT

   • 8 March, 1769, Junius, letter to the Duke of Grafton

     You might have satisfied every duty of political friendship, without committing the honour of your sovereign.

   • 1805, John Marshall, chapter VII, in The Life of George Washington, […], volume III, Philadelphia, Pa.: […] C. P. Wayne, →OCLC, page 387:

     [The general cautioned] both these officers against any sudden assent they might inadvertently give to the proposal, if made to them also, which might possibly be considered as committing the faith of the United States.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 2005 July 31, Teri Karush Rogers, quoting Julie Friedman, “Fear of Committing?”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     […] the perennial bachelor and “the single woman who has never married, who is afraid to commit to an apartment, because she's afraid if she somehow commits to a studio or one-bedroom then she's never going to get married,” said Julie Friedman, a senior associate broker at Bellmarc Realty.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 2019 December 9, qntm, “Wild Light”, in There Is No Antimemetics Division, →ISBN, pages 191–192:

     And what actinic, mind-wrenching form could the countermeme take? How could human hands assemble something so devastatingly powerful and hold it steady; what human mind could wield it without exploding from the inside out? What would deploying that concept in anger do to human ideatic space? How far out from the solution is modern memetic science, a year, a century? What insane impossibility has Hughes just committed himself to?

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

6. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT, computingCategory:en:Computing#COMMIT, databasesCategory:en:Databases#COMMIT) To make a set of changes permanent.
   • 2005, Thearon Willis, Beginning Visual Basic 2005 Databases, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 343:

     When all SQL statements in the transaction are executed successfully, the transaction is committed and all the work that the SQL statements performed is made a permanent part of the database.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 2014, Wlodzimierz Gajda, Git Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach, Apress, →ISBN, page 86:

     We can commit all unstaged files with one command: […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

7. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT, programmingCategory:en:Programming#COMMIT) To integrate new revisions into the public or master version of a file in a version control system.
8. (intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#COMMIT, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#COMMIT) To enter into a contest; to match; often followed by with.^[2]
   • 1616, Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Poetaster. [To the Reader.]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, →OCLC, page 348:

     For, in theſe ſtrifes, and on ſuch perſons, were as wretched to affect a victorie, as it is vnhappy to be committed with them.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 1677, Richard Gilpin, “part II, chapter VII”, in Dæmonologia Sacra‎, London: J. D., page 313:

     […] and from hence ( as when Fire and Water are committed together ) ariſeth a most troubleſome conflict.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 1877 [1804 March 4], Lord Castlereagh, quotee, “part II, chapter VII”, in Sidney James Owen, editor, Selection from the Despatches, Treaties, and Other Papers of the Marquess Wellesley […] ‎, Oxford: Clarendon Press, page 263:

     […] whilst it commits us in hostility with the three greatest military powers of the empire.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

9. (transitiveCategory:English transitive verbs#COMMIT, obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#COMMIT, Latinism) To confound.
   • 1673, John Milton, “[Sonnet] XIII. To Mr. H. Lawes, on his Aires.”, in Poems, &c. upon Several Occasions, London: […] Tho[mas] Dring […], →OCLC, page 57:

     Harry whoſe tuneful and well meaſur'd Song / Firſt taught our Engliſh Muſick how to ſpan / Words with juſt note and accent, not to ſcan / With Midas Ears, committing ſhort and long;

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

10. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#COMMIT, intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#COMMIT) To commit an offence; especially, to fornicate.
    • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter XII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

      the sonne might one day bee found committing with his mother […].

      Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

    • c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], pages 297–298, column 2:

      [K]eepe thy words Iusſtice, ſweare not, commit not, with mans ſworne Spouſe;

      Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

11. (obsoleteCategory:English terms with obsolete senses#COMMIT, intransitiveCategory:English intransitive verbs#COMMIT) To be committed or perpetrated; to take place; to occur.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter VIII, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume II, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book IV, page 51:

      As a vaſt Herd of Cows in a rich Farmer's Yard, if, while they are milked, they hear their Calves at a Diſtance, lamenting the Robbery which is then committing, roar and bellow: So roared forth the Somerſetſhire Mob an Hallaloo, made up of almoſt as many Squawls, Screams, and other different Sounds, as there were Perſons, or indeed Paſſions, among them: […]

      Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

commit (data management)

Wikipedia

commit (plural commits)Category:English lemmas#COMMITCategory:English nouns#COMMITCategory:English countable nouns#COMMITCategory:English entries with incorrect language header#COMMITCategory:Pages with entries#COMMITCategory:Pages with 2 entries#COMMIT

1. (computingCategory:en:Computing#COMMIT, databasesCategory:en:Databases#COMMIT) The act of committing (e.g. a database transaction), making it a permanent change; such a change.
   • 1988, Klaus R Dittrich, Advances in Object-Oriented Database Systems: 2nd International Workshop:

     To support locking and process synchronization independently of transaction commits, the server provides semaphore objects […]

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

   • 2009, Jon Loeliger, Version Control with Git:

     Every Git commit represents a single, atomic changeset with respect to the previous state.

     Category:English terms with quotations#COMMIT

2. (programmingCategory:en:Programming#COMMIT) The submission of source code or other material to a source control repository.
3. (informalCategory:English informal terms#COMMIT, sportsCategory:en:Sports#COMMIT, chiefly USCategory:American English#COMMIT) A person, especially a high school athlete, who agrees verbally or signs a letter committing to attend a college or university.

See also

• push
• stage

References

Further reading

• “commit”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “commit”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ.mi/Category:French 2-syllable words#COMMITCategory:French terms with IPA pronunciation#COMMIT

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#COMMIT

• Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#COMMIT

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#COMMIT

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#COMMIT

• Audio (France (Somain)):

  (file)

  Category:French terms with audio pronunciation#COMMIT

Verb

commitCategory:French non-lemma forms#COMMITCategory:French verb forms#COMMITCategory:French entries with incorrect language header#COMMITCategory:Pages with entries#COMMITCategory:Pages with 2 entries#COMMIT

1. third-person singular past historic of commettre