Sentence

Pronunciation

IPA: /ËˆsÉ›ntÉ™ns/
Hyphenation: sen + tence

Origin

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.

Full definition of sentence

Noun

sentence

(plural sentences)

(obsolete) Sense; meaning; significance.

MiltonThe discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence.

(obsolete) One's opinion; manner of thinking. 14th-17th c.

MiltonMy sentence is for open war.

(now rare) A pronounced opinion or judgment on a given question. from 14th c.

AtterburyBy them works we may pass sentence upon his doctrines.

(dated) The decision or judgement of a jury or court; a verdict. from 14th c.The court returned a sentence of guilt in the first charge, but innocence in the second.
The judicial order for a punishment to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime. from 14th c.The judge declared a sentence of death by hanging for the infamous cattle rustler.

1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, , Chapter I,The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.

A punishment imposed on a person convicted of a crime.
(obsolete) A saying, especially form a great person; a maxim, an apophthegm. 14th-19th c.

1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays, I.40:Men (saith an ancient Greek sentence) are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not by things themselves.

(grammar) A grammatically complete series of words consisting of a subject and predicate, even if one or the other is implied, and typically beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop. from 15th c.The children were made to construct sentences consisting of nouns and verbs from the list on the chalkboard.
(logic) A formula with no free variables. from 20th c.
(computing theory) Any of the set of strings that can be generated by a given formal grammar. from 20th c.

Synonyms

Hypernyms

(logic) formula

Related terms

sentential

Verb

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.

DrydenNature herself is sentenced in your doom.
1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, , Chapter I,The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.

(obsolete) To decree or announce as a sentence.
(obsolete) To utter sententiously.