Sentence

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: sen=tence

CIDE DICTIONARY

Sentence, n. [F., from L. sententia, for sentientia, from sentire to discern by the senses and the mind, to feel, to think. See Sense, n., and cf. Sentiensi.].

•  Sense; meaning; significance.  [1913 Webster]

  "Tales of best sentence and most solace."  [1913 Webster]

  "The discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence."  [1913 Webster]
•  An opinion; a decision; a determination; a judgment, especially one of an unfavorable nature.  [1913 Webster]

  "My sentence is for open war."  [1913 Webster]

  "That by them [Luther's works] we may pass sentence upon his doctrines."  [1913 Webster]
•  In civil and admiralty law, the judgment of a court pronounced in a cause; in criminal and ecclesiastical courts, a judgment passed on a criminal by a court or judge; condemnation pronounced by a judicial tribunal; doom. In common law, the term is exclusively used to denote the judgment in criminal cases.  [1913 Webster]

  "Received the sentence of the law."  [1913 Webster]
•  A short saying, usually containing moral instruction; a maxim; an axiom; a saw.  Broome.  [1913 Webster]
•  A combination of words which is complete as expressing a thought, and in writing is marked at the close by a period, or full point. See Proposition, 4.  [1913 Webster]

  " Sentences are simple or compound. A simple sentence consists of one subject and one finite verb; as, “The Lord reigns.” A compound sentence contains two or more subjects and finite verbs, as in this verse: -"  [1913 Webster]

  "He fills, he bounds, connects, and equals all."  [1913 Webster]

  "A king . . . understanding dark sentences."  [1913 Webster]

Dark sentence, a saying not easily explained.

Sentence, v. t. 

•  To pass or pronounce judgment upon; to doom; to condemn to punishment; to prescribe the punishment of.  [1913 Webster]

  "Nature herself is sentenced in your doom."  [1913 Webster]
•  To decree or announce as a sentence.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]
•  To utter sententiously.  Feltham.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Sentence, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a set of words complete in itself as the expression of a thought, containing or implying a subject and predicate, and conveying a statement, question, exclamation, or command. b a piece of writing or speech between two full stops or equivalent pauses, often including several grammatical sentences (e.g. I went; he came).
2 a a decision of a lawcourt, esp. the punishment allotted to a person convicted in a criminal trial. b the declaration of this.
3 Logic a series of signs or symbols expressing a proposition in an artificial or logical language.
--v.tr.
1 declare the sentence of (a convicted criminal etc.).
2 (foll. by to) declare (such a person) to be condemned to a specified punishment.

Idiom

under sentence of having been condemned to (under sentence of death).

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L sententia opinion f. sentire be of opinion

THESAURUS

Sentence

Parthian shot, acquittal, act on, action, adage, address, adjectival phrase, adjudge, adjudicate, affirmation, allegation, ana, analects, anathematize, anathematizing, answer, aphorism, apostrophe, apothegm, article, assertion, attaint, averment, award, axiom, back matter, blacklist, blame, book, bring home to, byword, catchword, censure, chapter, clause, collected sayings, comment, condemn, condemnation, consideration, construction, convict, conviction, crack, current saying, damn, damnation, death sentence, death warrant, decision, declaration, decree, deliverance, denounce, denouncement, denunciate, denunciation, determination, devote, diagnosis, dictate, dictum, distich, doom, epigram, exclamation, excommunicate, excommunication, expression, fascicle, find, find against, find for, find guilty, finding, folio, front matter, gathering, gnome, golden saying, greeting, guilty verdict, headed group, idiom, idiotism, interjection, judge, judgement, judgment, landmark decision, locution, manner of speaking, maxim, mention, moral, mot, motto, note, noun phrase, number, observation, oracle, ordain, order, page, paragraph, pass judgment, pass sentence, pass sentence on, passage, peculiar expression, penalize, penalty, period, phrasal idiom, phrase, pithy saying, position, precedent, precept, prescript, prognosis, pronounce, pronounce judgment, pronounce on, pronounce sentence, pronouncement, proscribe, proscription, proverb, proverbial saying, proverbs, punish, punishment, question, rap, reflection, remark, report, resolution, return a verdict, rule, ruling, saw, say, saying, section, sententious expression, set phrase, sheet, signature, sloka, standard phrase, statement, stock saying, subjoinder, sutra, syntactic structure, teaching, term, text, thought, turn of expression, turn of phrase, usage, utter a judgment, utterance, verb complex, verb phrase, verbalism, verdict, verdict of guilty, verse, way of speaking, wisdom, wisdom literature, wise saying, witticism, word, word-group, words of wisdom

ROGET THESAURUS

Sentence

Phrase

N phrase, expression, set phrase, sentence, paragraph, figure of speech, idiom, idiotism, turn of expression, style, paraphrase, periphrase, motto, phraseology, expressed, idiomatic, in round terms, in set terms, in good set terms, set terms, in set phrases.

Condemnation

N condemnation, conviction, judgment, penalty, sentence, proscription, damnation, death warrant, attainder, attainture, attaintment, condemnatory, damnatory, guilty, condemned, nonsuited, self-convicted, mutato nomine de te fabula narratur, unrespited, unpitied, unreprieved.

VB condemn, convict, cast, bring home to, find guilty, damn, doom, sign the death warrant, sentence, pass sentence on, attaint, confiscate, proscribe, sequestrate, nonsuit, disapprove, accuse, stand condemned.

Judgment

N judgment, result, conclusion, upshot, deduction, inference, ergotism, illation, corollary, porism, moral, estimation, valuation, appreciation, judication, dijudication, adjudication, arbitrament, arbitrement, arbitration, assessment, ponderation, valorization, award, estimate, review, criticism, critique, notice, report, decision, determination, judgment, finding, verdict, sentence, decree, findings of fact, findings of law, res judicata, plebiscite, voice, casting vote, vote, opinion, good judgment, judge, umpire, arbiter, arbitrator, asessor, referee, censor, reviewer, critic, connoisseur, commentator, inspector, inspecting officer, twenty-twenty hindsight, armchair general, monday morning quarterback, judging, judicious, determinate, conclusive, on the whole, all things considered, a Daniel come to judgment, and stand a critic, hated yet caress'd, it is much easier to be critical than to be correc, la critique est aisee et l'art est difficile, nothing if not critical, O most lame and impotent conclusion.

VB judge, conclude, come to a conclusion, draw a conclusion, arrive at a conclusion, ascertain, determine, make up one's mind, deduce, derive, gather, collect, draw an inference, make a deduction, weet, ween, form an estimate, estimate, appreciate, value, count, assess, rate, rank, account, regard, consider, think of, look upon, review, size up, settle, pass an opinion, give an opinion, decide, try, pronounce, rule, pass judgment, pass sentence, sentence, doom, find, give judgment, deliver judgment, adjudge, adjudicate, arbitrate, award, report, bring in a verdict, make absolute, set a question at rest, confirm, comment, criticize, kibitz, pass under review, investigate, hold the scales, sit in judgment, try judgment, hear a cause.

Maxim

N maxim, aphorism, apothegm, apophthegm, dictum, saying, adage, saw, proverb, sentence, mot, motto, word, byword, moral, phylactery, protasis, axiom, theorem, scholium, truism, postulate, first principles, a priori fact, assumption (supposition), reflection, conclusion, golden rule, principle, principia, profession of faith, settled principle, accepted principle, formula, accepted fact, received truth, wise maxim, sage maxim, received maxim, admitted maxim, recognized maxim, true saying, common saying, hackneyed saying, trite saying, commonplace saying, aphoristic, proverbial, phylacteric, axiomatic, gnomic, as the saying goes, as the saying is, as they say.

Affirmation

N affirmance, affirmation, statement, allegation, assertion, predication, declaration, word, averment, confirmation, asseveration, adjuration, swearing, oath, affidavit, deposition, avouchment, assurance, protest, protestation, profession, acknowledgment, legal pledge, pronouncement, solemn averment, solemn avowal, solemn declaration, remark, observation, position, saying, dictum, sentence, ipse dixit, emphasis, weight, dogmatism, dogmatics, asserting, declaratory, predicatory, pronunciative, affirmative, soi-disant, positive, certain, express, explicit, absolute, emphatic, flat, broad, round, pointed, marked, distinct, decided, confident, trenchant, dogmatic, definitive, formal, solemn, categorical, peremptory, unretracted, predicable, affirmatively, in the affirmative, with emphasis, ex-cathedra, without fear of contradiction, as God is my witness, I must say, indeed, i' faith, let me tell you, why, give me leave to say, marry, you may be sure, I'd have you to know, upon my word, upon my honor, by my troth, egad, I assure you, by jingo, by Jove, by George, troth, seriously, sadly, in sadness, in sober sadness, in truth, in earnest, of a truth, truly, perdy, in all conscience, upon oath, be assured, yes, I'll warrant, I'll warrant you, I'll engage, I'll answer for it, I'll be bound, I'll venture to say, I'll take my oath, in fact, forsooth, joking apart, so help me God, not to mince the matter, quoth he, dixi.