assort
Americanverb (used with object)
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assorts,
present (3rd person singular)
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assorted,
past participle, past
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assorting
present participle
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to distribute, place, or arrange according to kind or class; classify; sort.
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to furnish with a suitable assortment or variety of goods; make up of articles likely to suit a demand.
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Archaic. to group with others of the same or similar kind; connect or identify as of a similar class; associate (usually followed bywith ).
verb (used without object)
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assorts,
present (3rd person singular)
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assorted,
past participle, past
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assorting
present participle
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to agree in sort or kind; be matched or suited.
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to associate; consort.
verb
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(tr) to arrange or distribute into groups of the same type; classify
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to fit or fall into a class or group; match
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(tr) to supply with an assortment of merchandise
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(tr) to put in the same category as others; group
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rare to keep company; consort
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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assortsimple
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assortssimple
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have assortedperfect
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has assortedperfect
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am assortingprogressive
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are assortingprogressive
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is assortingprogressive
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have been assortingperfect progressive
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has been assortingperfect progressive
Past
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assortedsimple
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had assortedperfect
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was assortingprogressive
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were assortingprogressive
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had been assortingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of assort
From the Middle French word assorter, dating back to 1480–90. See as-, sort
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The law states that alleles of different genes assort independently of one another during gamete formation.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
It is the chromosomes, not the individual genes, that assort independently.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018
This data helps retailers better understand their customers, leading to improvements in how they assort and design stores.Participation.
From Forbes ● Apr. 8, 2014
Many species, including primates and wolves, assort themselves by means of a dominance hierarchy.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 19, 2011
To assort the colors a very, correct eye is required, and those who do this part of the work make better wages than those who make the cigars.
From Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce by E. R. Billings
The values along each forked pathway can be multiplied because each gene assorts independently.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
The "Hall" would likewise appear to be divided into two tenements, which but ill assorts with its original appropriation; though we are not to consider these deviations as affecting the architectural character or identity.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 573, October 27, 1832 by Various
Next day he assorts the packages of a group in a till similar to those already described, except that it is laid flat upon a low counter.
From The Galaxy, May, 1877 Vol. XXIII.—May, 1877.—No. 5. by Various
The crowd assorts itself as the people do who line the barriers at a bull-fight: those who have parasols, to the shadow; those who have barely a hat, to the sun.
From The Cup of Trembling and Other Stories by Mary Hallock Foote
Then I proceed with the distinction, how ill fancy assorts with imagination, as instanced in Milton's Limbo.
From The Literary Remains of Samuel Taylor Coleridge by Henry Nelson Coleridge
Supplies for the vessels—food, fuel, assorted goods for the shops on board—come from local suppliers in the region or from ports, especially in Bahrain, where ships with the Navy’s Combat Logistics Command bring in supplies.
From Slate ● Aug. 19, 2026
By the end of 2023, “Theo” had sold 3,000 copies, a respectable number for any book, let alone a quiet novel about a man who has conversations with assorted townsfolk about kindness and mercy.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 25, 2026
Swansea Crown Court heard the lamb products of Kismet Kebabs Ltd, based in Essex, contained little actual lamb, but a mix of fat, skin, assorted meats and mechanically reclaimed meat products.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
And yet for a century — going back to 1928 — we’ve had the Great Depression, wars, terror attacks, assassinations, pandemics, assorted unrest and other market shocks.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 27, 2026
He had nothing in common with the stray dogs in the street, much less with the thoroughbred racers that assorted families of the aristocracy were raising.
From "The House of the Spirits: A Novel" by Isabel Allende
Note that we are assuming the interacting genes are not linked; they are still assorting independently into gametes.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
Mr Baker seems to be randomly assorting clips for a montage, and the characters feel so real and idiosyncratic that it’s riveting even without a clear sense of plot or direction.
From Economist ● Sep. 13, 2017
The same is true of Comic-Con’s purpose for the publishers, studios and assorting celebrities and creators who are involved.
From Time ● Sep. 5, 2012
Even without the new additions, Yale custodians had years of editing and assorting ahead of them.
From Time Magazine Archive
I was away from the factory for many afternoons to assist in picking and assorting.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 94, August, 1865 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
