indeterminate sentence

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noun Criminal Law.

a penalty, imposed by a court, that has relatively wide limits or no limits, as one of imprisonment for one to ten years.

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Origin of indeterminate sentence

First recorded in 1870–75

Words nearby indeterminate sentence

indeterminable, indeterminacy, indeterminacy principle, indeterminate, indeterminate equation, indeterminate sentence, indeterminate vowel, indetermination, indeterminism, index, indexation

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use indeterminate sentence in a sentence

As this list shows, punishments typically run to a short-ish jail sentence and/or a moderately hefty fine.
In Defense of Blasphemy|Michael Tomasky|January 9, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Real Housewives of New Jersey star Teresa Giudice turned herself in to serve a 15-month sentence for bankruptcy fraud.
How a ‘Real Housewife’ Survives Prison: ‘I Don’t See [Teresa Giudice] Having a Cakewalk Here’|Michael Howard|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
That Huckabee is mentioned in the same sentence with other aspiring conservative governors, especially Bobby Jindal, is laughable.
Why This Liberal Hearts Huckabee|Sally Kohn|January 6, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Brown had been serving a life sentence; McCollum had been on Death Row.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities|Elizabeth Picciuto|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Had he been competently represented, the jury might well have failed to concur on a death sentence.
How the U.S. Justice System Screws Prisoners with Disabilities|Elizabeth Picciuto|December 16, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Before he could finish the sentence the Hole-keeper said snappishly, "Well, drop out again—quick!"
Davy and The Goblin|Charles E. Carryl
Each sentence came as if torn piecemeal from his unwilling tongue; short, jerky phrases, conceived in pain and delivered in agony.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
Sentence of fine and imprisonment passed upon lord Bacon in the house of peers for bribery.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
John Wilkes released from the tower by the memorable sentence of chief justice Pratt.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
It seeks the shortest phrase or sentence and adds successively all the modifiers, making no omissions.
Assimilative Memory|Marcus Dwight Larrowe (AKA Prof. A. Loisette)

British Dictionary definitions for indeterminate sentence

indeterminate sentence

noun

law a prison sentence the length of which depends on the prisoner's conduct

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012