commutation

noun8

1. •
   Specifically, the substitution of one kind of payment for another, especially a switch to monetary payment from obligations of labour.

   • Professor Postan has argued in favour of a rapid move towards commutation in the twelfth century which slackened or even went into reverse in the course of the thirteenth. — 1969
2. •
   The change to a lesser penalty or punishment by the State

   • Monsieur the Marquis de Sade [was] now holed up in one of his châteaux while his wife worked for the commutation of a sentence passed on him recently for poisoning and buggery. — 1992
3. •
   Substitution, as a means of discriminating between phonemes.
4. •
   (US) The process or habit of journeying to and from work on a regular basis; commuting.

   • but there was no city officer to stand forth and ask for it — not even so much as to require frequent trains, low fares, and commutations on that part of the road which ran within the city limits. — 1879
5. •
   The reversal of an electric current.
6. •
   (formal, no longer used) Substitution of one thing for another; interchange.
7. •
   (no longer used) The act of giving one thing for another; barter; exchange.
8. •
   (no longer used) A passing from one state to another; change; alteration; mutation.