suspended sentence

British

noun

a sentence of imprisonment that is not served by an offender unless he commits a further offence during its currency Compare deferred sentence

"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

Example Sentences

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suspended sentence

Tomé received a two-year suspended sentence and Oliveira was acquitted.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

Let’s hope Judge Chuang dispenses with the Justice Department’s unjust prison demand and issues a suspended sentence.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 2026

Gutierrez was supposed to receive a suspended sentence of eight years in prison, which he would serve only if he violated the terms of his five-year probation.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 8, 2026

The 16-year-old was given an 18-month suspended sentence.

From Barron's ● Apr. 28, 2026

He sent for me, and asked me what I thought about the case—whether I thought it would be right to let the girl go on a suspended sentence.

From Within the Law by Bayard Veiller

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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023