sentence
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈsɛntəns/
ipa: [ˈsɛntn̩(t)s]
ipa: [ˈsɛnʔn̩(t)s]
ipa: /sɛɳˈʈɛns/
ipa: /ˈsɛɳʈəns/
rhymes: -ɛntəns
Forms: form: sentences
form: sentencing
form: sentenced
form: sentenced
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”).
Senses: examples: text: The judge sentenced the embezzler to ten years in prison, along with a hefty fine.
text: Nature herself is sentenced in your doom.
ref: 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, (please specify the page number):
text: 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.
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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 05 Aug 2023, ASIA PACIFIC:
text: And at that point, we have sentenced a child to motherhood.
ref: 2016 February 21, “Abortion Laws”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 3, episode 2, John Oliver (actor), via HBO:
synonyms: pass sentence
glosses: To declare a sentence on a convicted person; to condemn to punishment.
examples: text: “We are empowered to deliver thee to prison; yea, the law commands us to sentence death upon the abettors of this mischief.[…]"
ref: 1874, Ella Taylor Disosway, South Meadows: A Tale of Long Ago, page 235:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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, ...
ref: 1991, Joe Wayman, If You Promise Not to Tell, Pieces of Learning, →ISBN, page 36:
text: […] 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 […]
ref: 1996, United States. Court of Appeals (9th Circuit), Annual Report of the Ninth Circuit, page 137
topics: law
glosses: To decree, announce, or pass as a sentence.
examples: text: Let me heare one wise man sentence it, rather then twenty Fooles, garrulous in their lengthened tattle.
ref: 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:
glosses: To utter sententiously.
Derived terms: resentence
sentencer