means A sentence is a grammatically complete unit of words that expresses a statement, question, command, or exclamation — or, in law, the punishment a court assigns after a guilty verdict.

from From Latin 'sententia,' meaning an opinion, judgment, or way of thinking — itself born from 'sentire,' to feel or perceive (the same root that gives us 'sentiment' and 'sense'). It reached English through Old French 'sentence' in the medieval period. The legal meaning came first in English: a court's 'sentence' was literally its considered opinion, its judgment handed down. The grammatical meaning grew from the same idea — a sentence as a fully expressed thought, a complete piece of one's mind. So whether you're being condemned or just trying to finish a clause, you're on the receiving end of someone's judgment.