sen·tence 1 /'sent-əns, -ənz/ n [Old French, opinion, judicial sentence, from Latin sententia, ultimately from sentire to feel, think, express an opinion]
1: a judgment formally pronouncing the punishment to be inflicted on one convicted of a crime
2: the punishment that one convicted of a crime is ordered to receive
concurrent sentence: a sentence that runs at the same time as another
consecutive sentence: a sentence that runs before or after another
cumulative sentence: consecutive sentence in this entry; also: the combination of two or more consecutive sentences
death sentence: a sentence condemning the convicted defendant to death
de·ter·mi·nate sentence /di-'tər-mə-nət-/: a sentence for a fixed rather than indeterminate length of time
general sentence: a sentence that does not allocate the punishment imposed for the individual counts on which the defendant was convicted
◇ General sentences are impermissible.
in·de·ter·mi·nate sentence /ˌin-di-'tər-mə-nət-/: a sentence of minimum and maximum duration with the exact length to be later determined (as by a parole board)
life sentence: a sentence of imprisonment for the rest of the convicted defendant's life
mandatory sentence: a sentence that is specifically required or falls within a range required by statute as punishment for an offense
imposed the minimum mandatory sentence for distributing drugs near a school
presumptive sentence: a sentence that is the presumed punishment for an offense and is subject to the upward or downward adjustment of its severity depending on aggravating and mitigating factors
split sentence: a sentence of which part is served in prison and the other suspended and usu. replaced by probation
suspended sentence: a sentence the imposition or execution of which is suspended by the court
sentence 2 vt sen·tenced, sen·tenc·ing: to impose a sentence on
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster. 1996.