death sentence

noun

A decree that someone be put to death as a punishment for a crime; a sentence of execution.

“Having the Huntington's gene is a death sentence.”

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Meanings

noundeath sentence (plural death sentences)

plural death sentences

  1. lawA decree that someone be put to death as a punishment for a crime; a sentence of execution.

    Comrades, here and now I pronounce the death sentence upon Snowball.

    1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC
    1 more example

    Tyrion’s tears contain the symbolic weight of his whole life; he wouldn’t be here if not for Jaime, as he admits, and his last hope is to give the man who risked everything to help him survive the same chance. Tyrion knows it’s a death sentence from Daenerys to betray her in this way, but he no longer cares.

    2019 May 12, Alex McLevy, “Westeros faces a disastrous final battle on the penultimate Game of Thrones (newbies)”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 15 May 2019
  2. figurativelyAnything that spells death.

    Having the Huntington's gene is a death sentence.

Translations

Afrikaans doodsvonnis
  • doodsvonnissentence
Bulgarian смъртна присъда
  • смъртна присъда (smărtna prisăda)sentence
Chinese Mandarin 死刑
  • 死刑 (sǐxíng)sentence
Danish dødsdom
  • dødsdomsentence
Dutch doodstraf, doodvonnis
  • doodstrafsentence
  • doodvonnissentence
Esperanto mortkondamno
  • mortkondamnosentence
Finnish kuolemantuomio
  • kuolemantuomiosentence
French arrêt de mort, sentence de mort
  • arrêt de mortsentence
  • sentence de mortsentence
  • condamnation à mortsentence
German Todesurteil
  • Todesurteilsentence
Greek θανατική καταδίκη, θανατική ποινή
  • θανατική καταδίκη (thanatikí katadíki)sentence
  • θανατική ποινή (thanatikí poiní)sentence
Hebrew עונש מוות, גזר דין מוות
  • עונש מוותsentence
  • גזר דין מוותsentence
  • פסק דין מוותsentence
Hungarian halálbüntetés, halálos ítélet
  • halálbüntetéssentence
  • halálos ítéletsentence
Icelandic dauðadómur
  • dauðadómursentence
Indonesian hukuman mati, pidana mati
  • hukuman matisentence
  • pidana matisentence
Japanese 死刑判決
  • 死刑判決 (shikei hanketsu)sentence
Korean 사형 선고, 사형 언도
  • 사형 선고 (sahyeong seon'go)sentence
  • 사형 언도 (sahyeong eondo)sentence
Polish wyrok śmierci
  • wyrok śmiercisentence
Portuguese pena de morte
  • pena de mortesentence
Romanian condamnare la moarte, sentință la moarte
  • condamnare la moartesentence
  • sentință la moartesentence
Russian сме́ртный пригово́р
  • сме́ртный пригово́р (smértnyj prigovór)sentence
Spanish sentencia de muerte
  • sentencia de muertesentence
Swedish dödsdom
  • dödsdomsentence
Thai โทษประหาร
  • โทษประหาร (thos̄ʹ prah̄ār)sentence
Turkish ölüm cezası
  • ölüm cezasısentence
Ukrainian сме́ртний ви́рок
  • сме́ртний ви́рок (smértnyj výrok)sentence
Cite this entry
APA

death sentence. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/death%20sentence

MLA

“death sentence.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/death%20sentence. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “death sentence,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/death%20sentence.

Source: death sentence on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.