Commute, hands raised (4)
I believe the answer is:
swap
'commute' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'hands raised' is the wordplay.
'hands' becomes 'paws' ('paw' can be a synonym of 'hand').
'raised' says the letters should be written in reverse.
'paws' in reverse letter order is 'SWAP'.
(Other definitions for swap that I've seen before include "Exchange; hands back" , "exchanged item" , "Exchange, substitute" , "exchanged gift" , "trade" .)