Borrowing from Middle French sentence, from Latin sententia, from sentiēns, present participle of sentiō, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sent-.

• IPA: /ˈsɛntəns/
  • (America) IPA: [ˈsɛntn̩(t)s], [ˈsɛnʔn̩(t)s]

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.

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]
   • 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. 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.]

   Hypernyms: 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]
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →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.]
    • 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

• sentential

• French: jugement, peine
• German: Urteil
• Italian: condanna, sentenza
• Portuguese: sentença
• Russian: пригово́р
• Spanish: sentencia, condena

• German: Verurteilung, Schuldspruch
• Portuguese: condenação
• Russian: осужде́ние
• Spanish: sentencia, condena

• French: peine, sentence
• German: Strafe
• Italian: pena, sentenza
• Portuguese: pena, sentença
• Russian: наказа́ние
• Spanish: sentencia, punición, condena, pena

• Russian: сенте́нция

• French: phrase
• German: Satz
• Italian: frase
• Portuguese: frase
• Russian: предложе́ние
• Spanish: oración

• Russian: выска́зывание

sentence (sentences, present participle sentencing; simple past and past participle sentenced)

1. (transitive) 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.

   Synonyms: 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.

2. (especially, legal 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.

   • 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.

• French: punir, condamner
• German: verurteilen
• Italian: condannare
• Portuguese: sentenciar
• Russian: пригова́ривать
• Spanish: sentenciar, condenar