sort
Americannoun
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sorts
plural
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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.
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character, quality, or nature.
young people of a nice sort.
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an example of something that is undistinguished or barely adequate.
He is a sort of poet.
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manner, fashion, or way.
We spoke in this sort for several minutes.
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Printing.
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any of the individual characters making up a font of type.
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characters of a particular font that are rarely used.
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an instance of sorting.
verb (used with object)
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sorts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sorted,
past participle, past
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sorting
present participle
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to arrange according to sort, kind, or class; separate into sorts; classify.
to sort socks;
to sort eggs by grade.
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to separate or take from other sorts or from others (often followed byout ): to sort out the children's socks.
to sort the good from the bad;
to sort out the children's socks.
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to assign to a particular class, group, or place (often followed by with, together, etc.).
to sort people together indiscriminately.
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Scot. to provide with food and shelter.
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Computers. to place (records) in order, as numerical or alphabetical, based on the contents of one or more keys contained in each record.
verb (used without object)
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sorts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sorted,
past participle, past
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sorting
present participle
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Archaic. to suit; agree; fit.
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British Dialect. to associate, mingle, or be friendly.
verb phrase
idioms
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out of sorts,
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in low spirits; depressed.
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in poor health; indisposed; ill.
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in a bad temper; irritable.
to be out of sorts because of the weather.
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Printing. short of certain characters of a font of type.
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of sorts, Also of a sort
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of a mediocre or poor kind.
a tennis player of sorts.
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of one sort or another; of an indefinite kind.
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sort of, in a way; somewhat; rather.
Their conversation was sort of tiresome.
noun
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a class, group, kind, etc, as distinguished by some common quality or characteristic
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informal type of character, nature, etc
he's a good sort
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a more or less definable or adequate example
it's a sort of review
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(often plural) printing any of the individual characters making up a fount of type
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archaic manner; way
in this sort we struggled home
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to some extent
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of an inferior kind
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of an indefinite kind
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not in normal good health, temper, etc
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informal
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(adverb) in some way or other; as it were; rather
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(sentence substitute) used to express reservation or qualified assent
I’m only joking. Sort of
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verb
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(tr) to arrange according to class, type, etc
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(tr) to put (something) into working order
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(tr) to arrange (computer information) by machine in an order convenient to the computer user
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informal to supply, esp with drugs
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archaic (intr; foll by with, together, etc) to associate, as on friendly terms
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archaic (intr) to agree; accord
Usage
See kind 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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sorternoun
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subsortnoun
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subsorternoun
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missortverb
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subsortverb
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undersortverb (used with object)
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unsortverb (used with object)
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sortableadjective
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unsortableadjective
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sortablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sortsimple
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sortssimple
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have sortedperfect
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has sortedperfect
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am sortingprogressive
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are sortingprogressive
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is sortingprogressive
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have been sortingperfect progressive
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has been sortingperfect progressive
Past
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sortedsimple
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had sortedperfect
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was sortingprogressive
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were sortingprogressive
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had been sortingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sort
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
Explanation
A sort is a type or a kind of something, or the act of categorizing things. If you’re an organized sort of person, sort your clothes by color. If you’re the disorganized sort, just chuck them all over the floor. The noun sort can mean a category or example, or even a type of person, as in "My sister is a generous sort." As a verb, it means "organize, categorize, or resolve" like when you sort your earrings by size or your math teacher helps you sort out what went wrong on the latest test. Sort comes from the Latin sortem, "share or portion" and also "fate or destiny."
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:
"Somewhere along the way...this idea that the best designers were trying to always make new experiences...just sort of got dropped by the wayside," he says.
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2026
Adam, I want to get you in here because I feel like another thing we’ve sort of danced around is what’s happening in Texas, where we have James Talarico.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
"It's sort of like Russian nesting dolls because you have grog within grog within grog. You can trace this back several generations of pots," Wallis said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 6, 2026
In short, he was precisely the sort of guy William Donovan, the head of the OSS, was looking for.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026
He sort of wanted to believe Angela—he was sure that she believed what she was telling them.
From "Found" by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Dahlia Lithwick: In a country that historically did beheadings, hangings, all sorts of objectively gross executions, the decision was made somewhere along the line to medicalize executions, to make it look like dental surgery.
From Slate ● Oct. 6, 2026
"The more women who are seen online doing these sorts of things, the more normal it becomes."
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
He closed his book saying, with a Clarion call of sorts to his readers:
From Salon ● Sep. 29, 2026
Transaction accounts — these are the sorts of checking accounts Slok is talking about — come to $8.3 trillion of the roughly $26 trillion in bank liabilities and capital.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 28, 2026
My head is buzzing with all sorts of questions, and the buzzing’s only gotten louder with the empty space and silence and time to think.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
The sector list is sorted by September price changes in ascending order, with the full index at the bottom.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 30, 2026
But the slate of games Sunday sorted out the rest of the postseason bracket.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 27, 2026
"And now we know they were already being sorted and incorporated into the first generation of solid bodies from the very start."
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
As for the curriculum, many details are still being sorted out.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026
“After we speak to Moreau, I’m gonna personally see to it you and your mother are placed in a safe location until this is all sorted out.”
From "Amari and the Night Brothers" by B.B. Alston
One of its TV commercials has it sorting the user’s emails to prioritize “what’s important,” placing a carpool schedule on the family calendar, ordering school supplies and turning on her stereo for a house party.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
That new renaissance is now increasingly connected to agentic software – or programs capable of automatically completing tasks like managing calendars, booking reservations and sorting through email.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2026
Your close relationship with your sister will be a big advantage when sorting through your mother’s estate.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 27, 2026
The company, which uses the machines for sorting and moving packages inside warehouses, is already one of the world’s top robot makers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
He was sitting at the dining table with his laptop open, sorting through school forms and gymnastics permissions slips for Adria and me.
From "Courage to Soar" by Simone Biles
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.
