sort

American  

[sawrt] / sɔrt /

noun

• sorts
  plural

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.

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verb (used with object)

• sorts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sorted,
  past participle,  past
• sorting
  present participle

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 byout ): 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.

verb (used without object)

• sorts,
  present (3rd person singular)
• sorted,
  past participle,  past
• sorting
  present participle

1. Archaic. to suit; agree; fit.

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

verb phrase

1. sort out

   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.

idioms

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. sort of, in a way; somewhat; rather.

   Their conversation was sort of tiresome.

sort British  

/ 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. to some extent

7. 1. of an inferior kind

   2. of an indefinite kind

8. not in normal good health, temper, etc

9. 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

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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 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

sort More Idioms  

1. 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.

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Usage

See kind ².

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• sorter
  noun
• subsort
  noun
• subsorter
  noun
• missort
  verb
• subsort
  verb
• undersort
  verb (used with object)
• unsort
  verb (used with object)
• sortable
  adjective
• unsortable
  adjective
• sortably
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• sorts
  plural

Participles

• sorting
  present
• sorted
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• sort
  simple
• sorts
  simple
• have sorted
  perfect
• has sorted
  perfect
• am sorting
  progressive
• are sorting
  progressive
• is sorting
  progressive
• have been sorting
  perfect progressive
• has been sorting
  perfect progressive

Past

• sorted
  simple
• had sorted
  perfect
• was sorting
  progressive
• were sorting
  progressive
• had been sorting
  perfect progressive

Future

• will sort
  simple
• will have sorted
  perfect
• will be sorting
  progressive
• will have been sorting
  perfect progressive

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

See Examples For:

sort sorts sorted sorting

"I do think that the mayor himself - I have suggested that he sort of unnecessarily antagonises people occasionally," Pearl said.

From BBC ● Aug. 21, 2026

“That was sort of his way of saying: I’m not like you and I’m going to beat you anyway,” Dinerman said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

“If you can’t get your problem addressed online, you’re pretty much out of luck. You can’t see anyone to sort it out,” O’Malley said.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 20, 2026

“It’s on its side and the mirror image. So it runs backwards to what would be sort of a logical assumption of its threading pattern.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026

And while Gingersnipes was not the superstitious type, she could not help but think that this new life was some sort of sign from Clare.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

They have a lot of people on staff who are in the fundraising business, send out mail, and now they do TV advertisements and all sorts of things to raise money.

From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026

Chief Executive Stéphane Bancel normally talks off the cuff at these sorts of events.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

That plot twist gives Chase the opportunity to send Gemma into the Further, dreaming up all sorts of frighteningly surreal environments.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026

Footwear executives have credited these sorts of items for helping to drive sales in recent quarters.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026

Eisman had been so vocal about the inevitable doom that all sorts of unlikely people wanted to hear what he now had to say.

From "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis

That question, which will have to be sorted out before the trial, could determine if the proceedings evolve into a massive spectacle across traditional outlets, social media, and streaming platforms.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

For more context, here is a look at the 11 sectors of the S&P 500, showing forward P/E ratios, sorted ascending, those at the end of 2025 and year-to-date weighted price changes.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 10, 2026

Jacie Prieto Lopez, vice president of communications for LA28, the Olympics organizing group, confirmed that improvements would be made to the facility but said specifics were still being sorted out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2026

Screening for virtue can’t prevent that, because the applicant pool is already sorted by appetite, and the appetite grows with the budget.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

He sorted through the cans and went back and they sat by the fire and ate the last of their crackers and a tin of sausage.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

Robots sorting parcels and serving fried chicken enthralled visitors at a robotics expo in Beijing on Wednesday, where hundreds of companies set out their pitches for a future labour market transformed by artificial intelligence.

From Barron's ● Aug. 19, 2026

The event features hundreds of teams competing in events such as running and football as well as less sporty challenges like box opening and sorting library books.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

High-temperature gasification can process mixed plastic without sorting, but it releases substantial amounts of carbon dioxide.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 31, 2026

Two-tenths of a percent is a rounding error on a rounding error, and I wouldn’t bet against a stadium full of Iraqis and Norwegians sorting one another more finely to clear it.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Even Mom, who was back in the kitchen and sorting through mail, lifted an eyebrow in approval.

From "Liar, Liar" by Gary Paulsen

Related Words

• array
• character
• description
• kind
• lot
• nature
• number
• quality
• set
• style