v., -mit·ted, -mit·ting, -mits. v.tr.
- To do, perform, or perpetrate: commit a murder.
- To put in trust or charge; entrust: commit oneself to the care of a doctor; commit responsibilities to an assistant.
- To place officially in confinement or custody, as in a mental health facility.
- To consign for future use or reference or for preservation: commit the secret code to memory.
- To put into a place to be kept safe or to be disposed of.
- To make known the views of (oneself) on an issue: I never commit myself on such issues.
- To bind or obligate, as by a pledge: They were committed to follow orders.
- To refer (a legislative bill, for example) to a committee.
To pledge or obligate one's own self: felt that he was too young to commit fully to marriage.
[Middle English committen, from Latin committere : com-, com- + mittere, to send.]
committable com·mit'ta·ble adj.SYNONYMS commit, consign, entrust, confide, relegate. These verbs mean to give over to another for a purpose such as care or safekeeping. Commit has the widest application: The troops were committed to the general's charge. I committed the sonata to memory. The patient was committed to the hospital. To consign is to transfer to another's custody or charge: The owner consigned the paintings to a dealer for sale. Entrust and confide stress trust in another: The task was too dangerous to be entrusted to a child. She confided her plans to her family. To relegate is to assign to a specific and especially an inferior category or position: Some scientists relegate parapsychology to the sphere of quackery.
