sentence

sentence [-s] n

Fr. < L. 'feel, have an opinion'.

1. Structure; construction; language sequence; [fig.] line; branch; shoot; leaf.
2. Penalty; conviction under the law; prescribed punishment, given by one in authority.
3. Main clause statement; independent syntactic unit; message comprised of a subject and a predicate; [Webster 1844] “a number of words containing complete sense or a sentiment followed by a full pause.”
4. Set of words; [metonymy] text; discourse; writing.

sentence [-d] v

see sentence, n.

1. Punish; condemn; convict.