sort

[ sawrt ]

noun

1. a particular kind, species, variety, class, or group, distinguished by a common character or nature:

   to develop a new sort of painting;

   nice people, of course, but not really our sort.

   Synonyms: nature, character, rank, order, family, class

2. character, quality, or nature:

   young people of a nice sort.

3. an example of something that is undistinguished or barely adequate:

   He is a sort of poet.

4. manner, fashion, or way:

   We spoke in this sort for several minutes.

5. Printing.
   1. any of the individual characters making up a font of type.
   2. characters of a particular font that are rarely used.
6. an instance of sorting.

verb (used with object)

1. to arrange according to sort, kind, or class; separate into sorts; classify:

   to sort socks;

   to sort eggs by grade.

2. to separate or take from other sorts or from others (often followed by out ): to sort out the children's socks.

   to sort the good from the bad;

   to sort out the children's socks.

3. to assign to a particular class, group, or place (often followed by with, together, etc.):

   to sort people together indiscriminately.

4. Scot. to provide with food and shelter.
5. Computers. to place (records) in order, as numerical or alphabetical, based on the contents of one or more keys contained in each record. Compare key ¹( def 19 ).

verb (used without object)

1. Archaic. to suit; agree; fit.
2. British Dialect. to associate, mingle, or be friendly.

verb phrase

1. 1. to evolve; develop; turn out:

      We'll just have to wait and see how things sort out.

   2. to put in order; clarify:

      After I sort things out here, I'll be able to concentrate on your problem.

sort

/ sɔːt /

noun

1. a class, group, kind, etc, as distinguished by some common quality or characteristic
2. informal.
   type of character, nature, etc

   he's a good sort

3. a more or less definable or adequate example

   it's a sort of review

4. often plural printing any of the individual characters making up a fount of type
5. archaic.
   manner; way

   in this sort we struggled home

6. after a sort
   to some extent
7. of sorts or of a sort
   1. of an inferior kind
   2. of an indefinite kind
8. out of sorts
   not in normal good health, temper, etc
9. sort of informal.
   1. adverb in some way or other; as it were; rather
   2. sentence substitute used to express reservation or qualified assent

      I’m only joking. Sort of

verb

1. tr to arrange according to class, type, etc
2. tr to put (something) into working order
3. tr to arrange (computer information) by machine in an order convenient to the computer user
4. informal.
   trfoll bywith to supply, esp with drugs
5. archaic.
   intr; foll by with, together, etc to associate, as on friendly terms
6. archaic.
   intr to agree; accord

Usage Note

See kind ².

Usage

See kind 2

Derived Forms

• ˈsortable, adjective
• ˈsorter, noun
• ˈsortably, adverb

Other Words From

• sorta·ble adjective
• sorta·bly adverb
• sorter noun
• mis·sort verb
• subsort noun
• sub·sort verb
• sub·sorter noun
• under·sort verb (used with object)
• un·sort verb (used with object)
• un·sorta·ble adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of sort¹

First recorded in 1200–50; Middle English noun, from Middle French sorte, from Medieval Latin sort- (stem of sors ) “kind, allotted status or portion, lot,” Latin: originally, “lot (for voting)”; Middle English verb sorten “to allot, arrange, assort,” from Middle French sortir or directly from Latin sortīrī “to draw lots,” derivative of sors; later senses influenced by the noun and by assort

Word History and Origins

Origin of sort¹

C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin sors kind, from Latin: fate

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. of sorts, Also of a sort.
   1. of a mediocre or poor kind:

      a tennis player of sorts.

   2. of one sort or another; of an indefinite kind.
2. out of sorts,
   1. in low spirits; depressed.
   2. in poor health; indisposed; ill.
   3. in a bad temper; irritable:

      to be out of sorts because of the weather.

   4. Printing. short of certain characters of a font of type.
3. sort of, Informal. in a way; somewhat; rather:

   Their conversation was sort of tiresome.

More idioms and phrases containing sort

see after a fashion (sort) ; all kinds (sorts) of ; bad sort ; it takes all sorts ; kind (sort) of ; nothing of the kind (sort) ; of sorts ; out of sorts .

Example Sentences

A kind of subconcern underneath that was that these loyalists, unlike so many of the advisers Trump kept around him during that initial term, could be hardworking and knowledgeable about the operations of government, enabling him to actually, successfully carry out his most impulsive and punitive schemes: having enemies arrested, shutting down CNN because Jake Tapper made him mad, overthrowing the government because he doesn’t like the outcome of an election, that sort of thing.

From Slate

In 2022 she posted a video in which she claimed that the Biden administration was attempting to cover up the dangers posed by “pathogens” at “U.S.-funded biolabs” in that country—a sort of mild version of claims about secret Ukrainian biological-weapons development that were being circulated at the time by Carlson, QAnon conspiracy theorists, and the Russian state.

From Slate

In a book published earlier this year that seems to have been designed to raise her national profile and sort of succeeded, she claimed to have shot a 14-month-old dog in a gravel pit because he wouldn’t behave, as well as to have stared down North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during a meeting that, it would later emerge, never took place, because she made it up.

From Slate

Ramaswamy has still gone further, asking to retract appropriations to programs whose congressional authority has lapsed—which include resources like veterans’ health care—and basically do a sort of Twitter Files–style “exposé” of budgetary allowances.

From Slate

She told the court that when her husband came back into the house afterwards he was angry and breathless "with some sort of facial cut".

From BBC

Related Words

• arrange
• catalogue
• categorize
• comb
• cull
• separate
• sift