sentencing

Pluralsentencings (some meanings)

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The act by which a court pronounces the punishment imposed on a person convicted of a crime.

   Sentencing followed three weeks after the jury returned its verdict.

   The court delayed sentencing while awaiting a psychiatric evaluation.

   Similarjudgment

   Note

   A stage of its own in criminal proceedings, coming after the verdict: guilt has been found, and the court now fixes the penalty, often within limits that guidelines set. In this sense the word is uncountable, even with an article (after the sentencing, the sentencing was not delayed). By contrast, the pronounced punishment itself can be counted, so appeals courts overturn sentencings.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle and gerund of sentence.

   The court is sentencing offenders more leniently this year.

   Sentencing convicted fraudsters often takes weeks of preparation.

   Note

   Behind the participle is a transitive verb whose object is normally the convicted person: the court is sentencing offenders. Poetic use can make the decree itself the object, and an obsolete use meant to utter something sententiously. As a gerund it shades into the noun for the court's act, but the gerund still takes a direct object (sentencing fraudsters), and the noun does not.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   The punishment formally pronounced by a court as its judgment for a crime.

   The sentencing handed down on Friday was five years in prison.

   Appeals courts sometimes overturn sentencings that exceed legal limits.

   Similarpunishment, penalty, judgment

4. 4
   adjective

   Relating to the judicial punishment imposed for a crime.

   The reform overhauled federal sentencing guidelines.

   Both attorneys prepared for the sentencing hearing.

5. 5
   nouncolloquialcountable or uncountable

   The act of forming complete sentences from fragmented thoughts and phrases.

   His sentencing improved once he learned to combine short phrases.

   The editor praised the clear sentencing throughout the report.

   Similarphrasing, wording, syntax, composition, writing

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