# sentence
## 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: /ˈsɛntəns/
** (General American) IPA: [ˈsɛntn̩(t)s], [ˈsɛnʔn̩(t)s]
*** Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɛntəns
* Hyphenation: sen‧tence

### Noun

sentence (plural sentences)
* (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.
* 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.
* A punishment imposed on a person convicted of a crime.
* (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.
* (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
    The children were made to construct sentences consisting of nouns and verbs from the list on the chalkboard.
* (logic) A formula with no free variables. [from 20th c.]
* (computing theory) Any of the set of strings that can be generated by a given formal grammar. [from 20th c.]
* (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 Egoist […], published 1917, →OCLC, page 15:Full of high sentence, but a bit obtuse; […]
* (obsolete) One's opinion; manner of thinking. [14th–17th c.]
** 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.
* (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.

#### Synonyms

* verdict
* conviction

#### Hypernyms

* (logic): formula

#### Hyponyms

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

#### Derived terms

* circle sentence
* cleft sentence
* composite sentence
* Concord sentence
* death sentence
* donkey sentence
* foresentence
* fused sentence
* garden-path sentence
* garden path sentence
* hypersentence
* incomplete sentence
* intersentence
* intrasentence
* jail sentence
* life sentence
* mandatory sentence
* midsentence
* minor sentence
* multisentence
* nonsentence
* number sentence
* periodic sentence
* presentence
* prison sentence
* pro-sentence
* pseudosentence
* run-on sentence
* sentegraph
* sentenceable
* sentence adverb
* sentence case
* sentence connective
* sentence element
* sentence fragment
* sentencehood
* sentencelike
* sentence mix
* sentencewise
* sentoid
* slifting
* subsentence
* suspended sentence
* topic sentence
* Wenker sentence

#### Related terms

* sentential

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

sentence (third-person singular simple present sentences, present participle sentencing, simple past and past participle sentenced)
* (transitive) To declare a sentence on a convicted person; to condemn to punishment.
    Synonym: pass sentence
    The judge sentenced the embezzler to ten years in prison, along with a hefty fine.
** 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.
* (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 […]
* (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.

#### Derived terms

* resentence
* sentencer

#### Translations
### Further reading

* “sentence”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
* William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “sentence”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

## Czech
### Pronunciation

* IPA: [ˈsɛntɛnt͡sɛ]
* Hyphenation: sen‧ten‧ce

### Noun

sentence f
* sentence (formula with no free variables)
* sentence (grammar)
    Synonym: věta

#### Declension
## French
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /sɑ̃.tɑ̃s/
* Audio:(file)

### Noun

sentence f (plural sentences)
* sentence
* verdict
* 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: [sententsæ]

### Noun

sentence f (5th declension)
* 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)
* 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:
* 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)