nominal sentence

American  

noun

Grammar.

1. a sentence consisting of a subject and complement without a linking verb, as Very interesting, those books.

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Etymology

Origin of nominal sentence

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Though, if he can invent for the paramour a German name, he will still receive but a nominal sentence.

From Another Sheaf by Galsworthy, John

Intimations come out at intervals that the judges will never dare to pass any but a nominal sentence upon him.

From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 55, No. 342, April, 1844 by Various

The interference of courts of justice with religious opinions had immensely decreased, and it is now reviving; but it is in your Lordship's power to annihilate it by passings nominal sentence on the defendant.

From The Trial of Henry Hetherington by Hetherington, Henry

They might make all the difference between a nominal sentence as a first offender and five years' penal servitude as an habitual criminal, to say nothing of police supervision afterwards.

From Scotland Yard The methods and organisation of the Metropolitan Police by Dilnot, George