sentence

English Online Dictionary. What means sentence‎? What does sentence mean?

English

Etymology

Borrowed 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”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛntəns/
  • (General American) IPA^(key): [ˈsɛntn̩(t)s], [ˈsɛnʔn̩(t)s]
• Rhymes: -ɛntəns
• Hyphenation: sen‧tence

Noun

sentence (plural sentences)

1. (dated) The decision or judgement of a jury or court; a verdict. [from 14th c.]
2. The judicial order for a punishment to be imposed on a person convicted of a crime. [from 14th c.]
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.]
6. (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.]

   Hypernym: syntagma

7. (logic) A formula with no free variables. [from 20th c.]
8. (computing theory) Any of the set of strings that can be generated by a given formal grammar. [from 20th c.]
9. (obsolete) Sense; meaning; significance.
10. (obsolete) One's opinion; manner of thinking. [14th–17th c.]
11. (archaic) A pronounced opinion or judgment on a given question. [from 14th c.]

Synonyms

• verdict
• conviction

Hypernyms

• (logic): formula

Hyponyms

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

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

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

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

   Synonym: pass sentence

   • 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 law or poetic) To decree, announce, or pass as a sentence.
   • 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.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• “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.

Czech

Pronunciation

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

Noun

sentence f

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

   Synonym: věta

Declension

French

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɑ̃.tɑ̃s/

Noun

sentence f (plural sentences)

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

Further reading

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

Latvian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [sententsæ]

Noun

sentence f (5th declension)

1. sentence (a laconic expression that contains some insight or instruction)

Declension

References

• sentence at tezaurs.lv

Middle French

Etymology

From Latin sententia.

Noun

sentence f (plural sentences)

1. sentence (judgement; verdict)
2. sentence (grammatically complete series of words)