sort

[ sawrt ]
See synonyms for sort on Thesaurus.com
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.

  2. character, quality, or nature: young people of a nice sort.

  1. an example of something that is undistinguished or barely adequate: He is a sort of poet.

  2. manner, fashion, or way: We spoke in this sort for several minutes.

  3. Printing.

    • any of the individual characters making up a font of type.

    • characters of a particular font that are rarely used.

  4. 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 the good from the bad;to sort out the children's socks.

  1. to assign to a particular class, group, or place (often followed by with, together, etc.): to sort people together indiscriminately.

  2. Scot. to provide with food and shelter.

  3. Computers. to place (records) in order, as numerical or alphabetical, based on the contents of one or more keys contained in each record.: Compare key1 (def. 19).

verb (used without object)
  1. Archaic. to suit; agree; fit.

  2. British Dialect. to associate, mingle, or be friendly.

Verb Phrases
  1. sort out,

    • to evolve; develop; turn out: We'll just have to wait and see how things sort out.

    • to put in order; clarify: After I sort things out here, I'll be able to concentrate on your problem.

Idioms about sort

  1. of sorts, : Also of a sort .

    • of a mediocre or poor kind: a tennis player of sorts.

    • of one sort or another; of an indefinite kind.

  2. out of sorts,

    • in low spirits; depressed.

    • in poor health; indisposed; ill.

    • in a bad temper; irritable: to be out of sorts because of the weather.

    • Printing. short of certain characters of a font of type.

  1. sort of, Informal. in a way; somewhat; rather: Their conversation was sort of tiresome.

Origin of sort

1
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

usage note For sort

See kind2.

Other words for sort

Other words from sort

  • sort·a·ble, adjective
  • sort·a·bly, adverb
  • sorter, noun
  • mis·sort, verb
  • subsort, 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

Words that may be confused with sort

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for sort

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

  1. a more or less definable or adequate example: it's a sort of review

  2. (often plural) printing any of the individual characters making up a fount of type

  3. archaic manner; way: in this sort we struggled home

  4. after a sort to some extent

  5. of sorts or of a sort

    • of an inferior kind

    • of an indefinite kind

  6. out of sorts not in normal good health, temper, etc

  7. sort of informal

    • (adverb) in some way or other; as it were; rather

    • (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

  1. (tr) to arrange (computer information) by machine in an order convenient to the computer user

  2. (tr foll by with) informal to supply, esp with drugs

  3. (intr; foll by with, together, etc) archaic, or dialect to associate, as on friendly terms

  4. (intr) archaic to agree; accord

Origin of sort

1
C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin sors kind, from Latin: fate

sort

See kind 2

Derived forms of sort

  • sortable, adjective
  • sortably, adverb
  • sorter, noun

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with sort

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.

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.