I. ˈsent ə n(t)s, -tən-, -nz noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin sententia feeling, opinion, expression of opinion, judgment, maxim, from (assumed) sentent-, sentens (irregular present participle of sentire to feel) + -ia -y — more at sense
1.
a. obsolete : a stated opinion, decision, or judgment ; especially : a conclusion given on request or reached after deliberation
such applause was heard as Mammon ended, and his sentence pleased, advising peace — John Milton
b. : a decision or judicial determination of a court or tribunal : decree: as
(1) : the judgment of a court pronounced in a cause in civil and admiralty law
(2) : the judgment passed by a court or judge on a person on trial as a criminal or offender
(3) : the order by which a court or judge imposes punishment or penalty upon a person found guilty ; especially : the punishment or penalty so imposed
the sentence was 10 years and a large fine
2. : a brief spoken or written passage; as
a. : a short or pithy saying usually conveying moral instruction : axiom , maxim , saw
b. usually capitalized : one of the verses of Scripture with which morning and evening prayers and the burial service commence in churches of the Anglican communion
3. : a grammatically self-contained unit consisting of a word or a syntactically related group of words that expresses an assertion, a question, a command, a wish, or an exclamation, that in writing usually begins with a capital letter and concludes with appropriate end punctuation, and that in speech is phonetically distinguished by various patterns of stress, pitch, and pauses — compare minor sentence , predication
4. : a complete musical idea usually consisting of two phrases : period
5. : a declarative sentence or statement in logic : proposition
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English sentencen, from Middle French sentencier, from Late Latin sententiare, from Latin sententia sentence
transitive verb
1. obsolete : to decree, decide, or announce judicially
2.
a. : to pronounce sentence on : to condemn to penalty or punishment
the defendant was sentenced at the conclusion of the trial
b. : to prescribe the penalty or punishment of : doom — usually used with to
was tried on the charge of inciting to riot and sentenced to thirty days in jail — E.S.Bates
3. : to judge the merits of (as a person or thing)
let us not sentence the play before seeing it
4. : to cause to suffer or undergo something : destine
elopement sentenced her to exile — Ann F. Wolfe
forces would be sentenced to an indefinite and costly stalemate — Time
set down his reactions to the quiet desperation of life they are sentenced to endure — W.F.Albright
intransitive verb
1. obsolete : to give judgment
2. : to pronounce sentence
the judges assemble for sentencing
III. noun
: a mathematical or logical statement (as an equation or a proposition) in words or symbols