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:
Therefore, genes that are far apart on the same chromosome are likely to still assort independently because of recombination events that occurred in the intervening chromosomal space.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
If genes are far apart and more likely to cross-over, then they are more likely to assort independently.
From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2018
We could try to assort that bunch top-to-bottom, from the front of the train to the caboose.
From Forbes ● Jul. 14, 2015
Many species, including primates and wolves, assort themselves by means of a dominance hierarchy.
From Scientific American ● Dec. 19, 2011
Since the ice does not assort the material which it carries, as water does, the clay, sand, gravel and bowlders will not, by the action of the ice, be separated from one another.
From The Geography of the Region about Devils Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin by Wallace W. Atwood
The values along each forked pathway can be multiplied because each gene assorts independently.
From Textbooks ● Jun. 9, 2022
To be a "politic," clever fellow, a vast deal more humoring of prejudices, errors, and follies, is requisite, than at all assorts with true honesty of character.
From The International Monthly, Volume 5, No. 4, April, 1852 by Various
She assorts and arranges her goods by the law of the winds and the tides.
From Time and Change by John Burroughs
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
And here lies the weakness of the epicurean and artistic attitude, that it assorts so ill with the harder and grimmer facts of life.
From At Large by Arthur Christopher Benson
At a potluck, the assorted offerings—the masala potatoes, a church-basement casserole, a barbecue sauce perfected over decades—represent the best of individual traditions and stories of identity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Clover’s long, tasseled ears collect leaves, grass, and assorted debris on walks, and she scratches them out semiregularly.
From Slate ● Jun. 20, 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
Footage obtained by TMZ shows Sweeney climbing up the Hollywood sign to help string up a clothesline of assorted bras across the familiar landmark.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 26, 2026
I took a seat at my desk and surveyed the landscape—a small village of nail polish bottles, colored pencils, a rubber finger-puppet beast, and a hill of assorted notepads.
From "The Line Tender" by Kate Allen
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
"You go to thunder," said Raven, rapidly assorting, clapping into bundles and casting aside.
From Old Crow by Alice Brown
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.
