Sentencing

How to spell sentencing

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce sentencing

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does sentencing mean?

1. nounThe judicial process of deciding and imposing a punishment on a convicted person.

Sentencing in a sentence

• The judge adjourned the sentencing until a full report was prepared.

• Reform of sentencing guidelines aims to reduce overcrowded prisons.

Where does sentencing come from?

Language of origin: Latin

The base word 'sentence' comes from the Latin sententia, meaning 'an opinion, a judgement, or a way of thinking', which was built on the verb sentire, 'to feel' or 'to perceive'. Originally a sentence was simply a considered opinion or a pithy maxim, and that older flavour survives in the grammatical 'sentence', a complete expressed thought. English took the word through Old French sentence in the 1200s, and the legal meaning, a court's formal pronouncement of punishment, grew naturally from the idea of a judge declaring an authoritative opinion. The form 'sentencing' is the modern English gerund, adding -ing to the verb 'sentence'. The spelling trap lives in the unstressed middle: the soft second 'c' sounds like 's', and the two 'n' sounds tempt writers to misplace letters, so it pays to remember the root 'sentence' sitting whole inside it.

How the word is built

• sent- (from Latin sentire: to feel, to judge)
• -ence (noun-forming suffix)
• -ing (gerund/present-participle suffix)