Library / English Dictionary

SENTENCE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

(criminal law) a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case and the punishment that is imposed

Example:

the conviction came as no surprise

Synonyms:

condemnation; conviction; judgment of conviction; sentence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("sentence" is a kind of...):

final decision; final judgment (a judgment disposing of the case before the court; after the judgment (or an appeal from it) is rendered all that remains is to enforce the judgment)

Domain category:

criminal law (the body of law dealing with crimes and their punishment)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sentence"):

murder conviction (conviction for murder)

rape conviction (conviction for rape)

robbery conviction (conviction for robbery)

Derivation:

sentence (pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A string of words satisfying the grammatical rules of a language

Example:

he always spoke in grammatical sentences

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sentence" is a kind of...):

linguistic string; string of words; word string (a linear sequence of words as spoken or written)

Meronyms (parts of "sentence"):

clause ((grammar) an expression including a subject and predicate functioning as a part of a complex sentence)

constituent; grammatical constituent ((grammar) a word or phrase or clause forming part of a larger grammatical construction)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sentence"):

simple sentence (a sentence having no coordinate clauses or subordinate clauses)

complex sentence (a sentence composed of at least one main clause and one subordinate clause)

compound sentence (a sentence composed of at least two coordinate independent clauses)

declarative sentence; declaratory sentence (a sentence (in the indicative mood) that makes a declaration)

run-on sentence (an ungrammatical sentence in which two or more independent clauses are conjoined without a conjunction)

topic sentence (a sentence that states the topic of its paragraph)

interrogation; interrogative; interrogative sentence; question (a sentence of inquiry that asks for a reply)

Derivation:

sentential (of or relating to a sentence)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The period of time a prisoner is imprisoned

Example:

he is doing time in the county jail

Synonyms:

prison term; sentence; time

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Hypernyms ("sentence" is a kind of...):

term (a limited period of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sentence"):

hard time (a term served in a maximum security prison)

life; life sentence (a prison term lasting as long as the prisoner lives)

Derivation:

sentence (pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pronounce a sentence on (somebody) in a court of law

Example:

He was condemned to ten years in prison

Synonyms:

condemn; doom; sentence

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "sentence" is one way to...):

declare (state emphatically and authoritatively)

"Sentence" entails doing...:

convict (find or declare guilty)

Domain category:

jurisprudence; law (the collection of rules imposed by authority)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sentence"):

foredoom (doom beforehand)

reprobate (abandon to eternal damnation)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Somebody ----s somebody to INFINITIVE

Sentence example:

They want to sentence the prisoners

Derivation:

sentence ((criminal law) a final judgment of guilty in a criminal case and the punishment that is imposed)

sentence (the period of time a prisoner is imprisoned)

Credits

 Context examples: 

Jim looked curiously at him, wondering evidently what it was that lay behind these abrupt sentences and sudden silences.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Volunteers were then asked to listen to the synthesized sentences and to transcribe what they heard.

(Scientists translate brain signals into speech sounds, National Institutes of Health)

He caught a stray sequence of sentences she was uttering.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Now will I pronounce thy sentence.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

They seemed to be within half a sentence of Harriet, and her immediate feeling was to avert the subject, if possible.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Leaving his sentence unfinished, he seized pen and paper and wrote to Jo, telling her that he could not settle to anything while there was the least hope of her changing her mind.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

She saw her mother and Marianne change colour; saw them look at herself, and whisper a few sentences to each other.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She studied every sentence; and her feelings towards its writer were at times widely different.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

I broke short off in the middle of a sentence.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

He was innocent of the crime for which he was sentenced.

(White Fang, by Jack London)