unsentenced
Definition
Adjective:
- Not yet given a judicial sentence: Refers to a person who has been convicted of a crime but has not yet received a formal punishment or penalty from a court.
- Not officially condemned: Describes a state where a legal judgment of punishment has not been imposed.
Usage Examples
- (The person was found guilty but had not yet been assigned a punishment.)
- (They have not received a formal sentence from a judge.)
- (The convict was not yet officially punished.)
Advanced Usage
"to be left unsentenced": to remain without a formal punishment for an extended period.
- Due to legal delays, the accused was left unsentenced for over a year. (The person was not given a sentence during that time.)
"unsentenced detainee": a legal term for a person held in custody without a final sentence.
- The prison holds both sentenced and unsentenced detainees. (Some inmates have been given sentences; others have not.)
Variants and Related Words
- Unsentence (verb, rare): to reverse or fail to impose a sentence.
- The court may unsentence the accused if new evidence appears. (The court may decide not to impose a sentence.)
- Sentence (noun/verb): the punishment assigned to a convicted person.
- The judge will sentence the criminal tomorrow. (The judge will impose a punishment.)
Synonyms
- Uncondemned: not officially declared guilty and punished.
- Unpunished: not having received a penalty (though not necessarily in a legal context).
- Unadjudicated: not yet formally decided by a court.
Related Idioms
- Under a suspended sentence: not currently serving a punishment, but with the threat of future penalty.
- He was under a suspended sentence, so any new crime would send him to jail. (His punishment was postponed but could be activated.)
Phrasal Verbs
- Sentence to: to assign a punishment.
- The judge sentenced him to five years in prison. (The judge imposed a five-year prison term.)
- The unsentenced man was not yet sentenced to anything. (No punishment was assigned.)