Sen·tence 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 judicial 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.
 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 saying not easily explained.
    A king . . . understanding dark sentences.   --Dan. vii. 23.