Sen"tence , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Sentenced (?);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Sentencing (?).]
1. To
pass or pronounce judgment upon; to doom;
to condemn to punishment; to prescribe the punishment of.
Nature herself is sentenced in your doom.
Dryden. 2. To decree or announce as a
sentence. [Obs.] Shak.
3. To utter sententiously. [Obs.] Feltham.
Sen"tence (?), 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.]
1. Sense; meaning; significance. [Obs.]
Tales of best
sentence and most solace.
Chaucer. The discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of
sentence.
Milton.
2. (a) An opinion; a
decision; a determination; a judgment, especially one of an unfavorable nature.
My sentence is for open war.
Milton. That by them
[Luther's works] we may pass sentence upon his doctrines.
Atterbury.
(b) A
philosophical or theological opinion; a dogma; as, Summary of the Sentences; Book of the Sentences.
3. (Law) 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 judgical tribunal; doom. In common law, the term is
exclusively used to denote the judgment in criminal cases.
Received the sentence of the law.
Shak. 4. A short saying, usually
containing moral instruction; a maxim; an axiom; a saw. Broome.
5.
(Gram.) 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.
&fist; 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: -
He
fills, he bounds, connects, and
equals all.
Pope. Dark sentence, a saving not easily explained.
A king . . . understanding dark
sentences.
Dan. vii. 23.
Hear it pronounced