death sentence

noun

1

: a sentence condemning a convicted defendant to death

2

: an affliction or a situation that is considered to be fatal

also : a prognosis of death

Examples of death sentence in a Sentence

She received a death sentence for the murders.

Recent Examples on the Web

Her boyfriend Tadaryl Shipp, was 17 and ineligible for a death sentence. — Victoria Craw, Washington Post, 2 Oct. 2026

Assistant Federal Defender Stephen Ferrell said Pike’s death sentence is an outlier because other 18-year-olds in Tennessee have had such sentences vacated. — Kim Chandler, Los Angeles Times, 1 Oct. 2026

But if three losses isn't a death sentence, are programs more likely to risk it with higher-profile matchups? — Ian Miller Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 Oct. 2026

These are ways of memorializing not merely dead friends but often also their long days of dying in a time when AIDS was a death sentence. — Colm Tóibín, Literary Hub, 30 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1655, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for death sentence

• presentence
• repentance

Legal Definition

death sentence

see also:

sentence