SENTENCE

Definitions

1. 1. Sense; meaning; significance. [Obs.] Tales of best sentence and most solace. Chaucer. The discourse itself, voluble enough, and full of sentence. Milton.
2. 2. 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.
3. 3. A philosophical or theological opinion; a dogma; as, Summary of the Sentences; Book of the Sentences.
4. 4. 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.
5. 5. A short saying, usually containing moral instruction; a maxim; an axiom; a saw. Broome.
6. 6. 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.