December 03, 2009
- sentence (noun)
- \SEN-tuns\
- What does it mean?
- 1 a : judgment; especially : one pronounced by a court in a criminal proceeding and specifying the punishment b : the punishment set by a court2 a : a grammatically self-contained group of words that expresses a statement, a question, a command, a wish, or an exclamation b : a mathematical or logical statement (as an equation) in words or symbols
- How do you use it?
- "Like the Pickfords, Mr. and Mrs. Winterbottom spoke quietly, in short sentences, and sat straight up as they ate their food." (Sharon Creech, Walk Two Moons)
- Are you a word wiz?
At the root of "sentence" we find the Latin word "sentire." What do you think "sentire" means?
If you had a feeling about B, you're right. "Sentire" means "to feel" and Latin speakers used "sentire" to form "sententia," meaning "feeling, opinion." "Sententia" passed into Anglo-French (the French language used in Medieval England) as "sentence" which then passed into Middle English. The earliest meaning of "sentence" was "opinion," although that meaning is no longer used. Other words that come from "sentire" include "consent," "dissent," "resent," "sense," "sensible," and "sensor."
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