sentence

Borrowing from Middle French sentence, from Latin sententia (“way of thinking, opinion, sentiment”), from sentiēns, present participle of sentiō (“to feel, think”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent- (“to feel”).

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛntəns/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛntn̩(t)s], [ˈsɛnʔn̩(t)s]

    • Audio (US)

      (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛntəns
• Hyphenation: sen‧tence

sentence (plural sentences)

1. (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.

   • 1959 October, Colin G. Maggs, “The Bristol-Frome branch of the W.R.”, in Trains Illustrated, page 473:

     A branch that has played a significant part in the history of its territory is under sentence at the end of the summer timetables, so far as its passenger services are concerned.

2. 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 child rapist.

   • 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:

     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.

3. A punishment imposed on a person convicted of a crime.
4. (obsolete) A saying, especially from a great person; a maxim, an apophthegm. [14th–19th c.]
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 40, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     Men (saith an ancient Greek sentence) are tormented by the opinions they have of things, and not by things themselves.

   • 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter LII”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volume IV, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson;  […], →OCLC:

     I am told that she writes well, and that all her letters are full of sentences.

5. (grammar) A grammatically complete series of words consisting of a subject and predicate, even if one or the other is implied, and, 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. [from 15th c.]

   Hypernym: syntagma

   The children were made to construct sentences consisting of nouns and verbs from the list on the chalkboard.

6. (logic) A formula with no free variables. [from 20th c.]
7. (computing theory) Any of the set of strings that can be generated by a given formal grammar. [from 20th c.]
8. (obsolete) Sense; meaning; significance.
   • [1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Prologues”, in The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English), [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     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 […]

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)]

   • 1649, J[ohn] Milton, ΕΙΚΟΝΟΚΛΆΣΤΗΣ [Eikonoklástēs] […], London: […] Matthew Simmons, […], →OCLC:

     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.

   • 1915 June, T[homas] S[tearns] Eliot, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, in Prufrock and Other Observations, London: The Egotist […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 15:

     Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; […]

9. (obsolete) One's opinion; manner of thinking. [14th–17th c.]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     My sentence is for open war.

10. (archaic) A pronounced opinion or judgment on a given question. [from 14th c.]
    • 1596, Edward Topsell, The Reward of Religion: Deliuered in Sundry Lectures Vpon the Booke of Ruth : Wherein the Godly May See Their Dayly Both Inward and Outward Trials : with the Presence of God to Assist Them, and His Mercies to Recompence Them [...]‎, London: John Windet, published 1601, page 1:

      [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, [...]

    • 1687, Francis Atterbury, An Answer to Some Considerations on the Spirit of Martin Luther and the Original of the Reformation; […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [Sheldonian] Theater, →OCLC:

      By them [Martin Luther's works] we might pass sentence upon his doctrines.

• verdict
• conviction

• (logic): formula

• (grammar): affirmative sentence, complex sentence, compound sentence, conditional sentence, postilion sentence, simple sentence

• sentential

sentence (third-person singular simple present sentences, present participle sentencing, simple past and past participle sentenced)

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

   The judge sentenced the embezzler to ten years in prison, along with a hefty fine.

   Synonym: pass sentence

   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):

     Nature herself is sentenced in your doom.

   • 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.

   • 2005, Elizabeth Economy, “Environmental Enforcement in China”, in Kristen A. Day, editor, China's Environment and the Challenge of Sustainable Development‎, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 109:

     Moreover, in 2002 two EPB officials in Yangcheng County, Shanxi Province, were sentenced to jail for failing to stop a chemical plant from discharging toxic waste into the drinking-water system.

   • 2006 June 16, “China holds closed trial for researcher - Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-08-05, ASIA PACIFIC‎:

     On Thursday, a court in south China's Hunan province sentenced a Chinese journalist, Yang Xiaoqing, to one year in jail for extortion after he wrote articles about official corruption.

   • 2016 February 21, “Abortion Laws”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 2, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:

     And at that point, we have sentenced a child to motherhood.

2. (especially law or poetic) To decree, announce, or pass as a sentence.
   • 1874, Ella Taylor Disosway, South Meadows: A Tale of Long Ago, page 235:

     “We are empowered to deliver thee to prison; yea, the law commands us to sentence death upon the abettors of this mischief. […] "

   • 1977, Eugene B. Meier, How was the Acculturation of Children of Alt Lutheraner Descent in Wisconsin 1843 - 1915 Affected by the Relationship of Home and Market?: A Case Study, page 150:

     So as far as the older generation of German Lutherans were concerned, the abolition of the mother language sentenced death upon the church as they knew it.

   • 1991, Joe Wayman, If You Promise Not to Tell, Pieces of Learning, →ISBN, page 36:

     But little did I know, As I cleared away that snow, I'd sentenced death upon that rose, For late that night it simply froze. I'd taken its one chance away, As I stripped it of its quilt that day. I learned a lesson late that night, ...

   • 1996, United States. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit), Annual Report of the Ninth Circuit, page 137:

     […] 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. (obsolete) To utter sententiously.
   • 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:

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

• resentence
• sentencer

• “sentence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “sentence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

• IPA^(key): [ˈsɛntɛnt͡sɛ]
• Hyphenation: sen‧ten‧ce

sentence f

1. sentence (formula with no free variables)
2. sentence (grammar)

   Synonym: věta

Inherited from Old French sentence, itself borrowed from Latin sententia.

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃.tɑ̃s/

• Audio

  (file)

sentence f (plural sentences)

1. sentence
2. verdict
3. maxim, saying, adage

• “sentence”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

sentence f (5th declension)

1. aphorism
2. maxim

• aforisms
• domu grauds

From Latin sententia.

sentence f (plural sentences)

1. sentence (judgement; verdict)
   • 1532, François Rabelais, Pantagruel:

     […] puis retourna s'asseoir et commença pronuncer la sentence comme s'ensuyt :

     […] then went back and sat down and started to give the verdict as follows:

2. sentence (grammatically complete series of words)
   • 1552, François Rabelais, Le Tiers Livre:

     tant a cause des amphibologies, equivocques, & obscuritez des motz, que de la briefveté des sentences

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)