Sentence Definition
sĕntəns
sentenced, sentences, sentencing
noun
sentences
A decision or judgment, as of a court; esp., the determination by a court of the punishment of a convicted person.
Webster's New World
The punishment itself.
Webster's New World
A word or a group of syntactically related words that states, asks, commands, or exclaims something; conventional unit of connected speech or writing, usually containing a subject and a predicate: in writing, a sentence begins with a capital letter and concludes with an end mark (period, question mark, etc.), and in speech a sentence begins following a silence and concludes with any of various final pitches and a terminal juncture.
Webster's New World
A short moral saying; maxim.
Webster's New World
An opinion, especially one given formally after deliberation.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
verb
sentenced, sentences, sentencing
To pronounce judgment or punishment upon (a convicted person); condemn (to a specified punishment)
Webster's New World
To impose a sentence on (a criminal defendant found guilty, for example).
American Heritage
The pronouncement of punishment by a court following a criminal defendant having been found guilty of a crime.
The handing down of a term of punishment by a court.
Webster's New World Law
To declare a sentence on a convicted person; to doom; to condemn to punishment.
The judge sentenced the embezzler to ten years in prison, along with a hefty fine.
Wiktionary
Synonyms:
Origin of Sentence
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Middle English opinion from Old French from Latin sententia (perhaps dissimilated from sentientia) from sentiēns sentient- present participle of sentīre to feel sent- in Indo-European roots
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
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From Middle French sentence, from Latin sententia (“way of thinking, opinion, sentiment"), from sentiens, present participle of sentÄ«re (“to feel, think"); see sentient, sense, scent.
From Wiktionary
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