Grammar. a grammatical unit of one or more words, bearing minimal syntactic relation to the words that precede or follow it, often preceded and followed in speech by pauses, having one of a small number of characteristic intonation patterns, and typically expressing an independent statement, question, request, command, etc., as Summer is here. or Who is it? or Stop!
2.
Law.
a.
an authoritative decision; a judicial judgment or decree, especially the judicial determination of the punishment to be inflicted on a convicted criminal.
Obsolete. an opinion given on a particular question.
verb (used with object)
6.
to pronounce sentence upon; condemn to punishment.
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Sentencesis always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
a calculus or concretion found in the stomach or intestines of certain animals, esp. ruminants, formerly reputed to be an effective remedy for poison.
a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.
a fool or simpleton; ninny.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
Origin: 1175–1225; (noun) Middle English < Old French < Latin sententia opinion, decision, equivalent to sent- (base of sentīre to feel) + -entia-ence; (v.) Middle English: to pass judgment, decide judicially < Old French sentencier, derivative of sentence
Related forms
sen·tenc·er, noun
pre·sen·tence, verb (used with object), -tenced, -tenc·ing.
re·sen·tence, noun, verb (used with object), -tenced, -tenc·ing.
late 13c., "doctrine, authoritative teaching," from O.Fr. sentence (12c.), from L. sententia "thought, meaning, judgment, opinion," from sentientem, prp. of sentire "be of opinion, feel, perceive" (see sense). Loss of first -i- in L. by dissimilation. Meaning "punishment imposed
by a court" is from c.1300; that of "grammatically complete statement" is attested from mid-15c., from notion of "meaning," then "meaning expressed in words." The verb meaning "to pass judgment" is recorded from c.1400.