sentence

1. 1

   The decision or judgement of a jury or court; a verdict.dated

   • The court returned a sentence of guilt in the first charge, but innocence in the second.
2. 2

   The judicial order for a punishment to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime.

   • The judge declared a sentence of death by hanging for the infamous child rapist.
3. 3

   A punishment imposed on a person convicted of a crime.

4. 4

   A saying, especially from a great person; a maxim, an apophthegm.obsolete

   • Men (saith an ancient Greek sentence) are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not by things themselves.
   • I am told that she writes well, and that all her letters are full of sentences.
5. 5

   A grammatically complete series of words consisting of a subject and predicate, even if one or the other is implied. In modern writing, when using, e.g., the Latin, Greek or Cyrillic alphabets, typically beginning with a capital letter and ending with a full stop or other punctuation.

   • Near-synonym: clause
   • The children were made to construct sentences consisting of nouns and verbs from the list on the chalkboard.
6. 6

   A formula with no free variables.

7. 7

   Any of the set of strings that can be generated by a given formal grammar.

8. 8

   Sense; meaning; significance.obsolete

   • Noght o word spak he moore than was neede, / And that was seyd in forme and reverence / And short and quyk and ful of hy sentence […]
   • now to the discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence, but that, for the most part, either specious rather than solid, or to his cause nothing pertinent.
9. 9

   One's opinion; manner of thinking.obsolete

   • My sentence is for open war.
   • The book of ſentences, which rendered the name of Peter Lombard ſo illuſtrious, was a compilation of ſentences, and paſſages, drawn from the fathers, whoſe manifold contradictions, this eminent prelate endeavoured to reconcile.
10. 10

    A pronounced opinion or judgment on a given question.archaic

    • [I]f it may bee lawfull to iudge or giue any ſentence thereof, it [the author of the book of Ruth] was either Samuell, or ſome other godly Prophet vnder the raigne of Saule, [...]
    • By them [Martin Luther's works] we might pass sentence upon his doctrines.

syn. verdict · conviction

1. 1

   To declare a sentence on a convicted person; to condemn to punishment.transitive

   • The judge sentenced the embezzler to ten years in prison, along with a hefty fine.
   • 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, 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.
2. 2

   To decree, announce, or pass as a sentence.especiallypoetic

   • […] upholding Idaho statute mandating that court "shall" sentence death upon finding an aggravating circumstance "unless" it finds outweighing mitigating circumstances because satisfies individualized sentencing requirement […]
3. 3

   To utter sententiously.obsolete

   • Let me heare one wise man sentence it, rather then twenty Fooles, garrulous in their lengthened tattle.