Sentence, 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 sentenciously. [Obs.] Feltham.
1 other Webster entry under this spelling
Sentence, n.
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.
Note: 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.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for sentence; he lists it under condemn.
Where he writes about it:
In stating the penalty of an offense, the legal word sentence is now more common than condemn; as, he was sentenced to imprisonment; but it is good usage to say, he was condemned to imprisonment. — from condemn