sort
Americannoun
-
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.
-
character, quality, or nature.
young people of a nice sort.
-
an example of something that is undistinguished or barely adequate.
He is a sort of poet.
-
manner, fashion, or way.
We spoke in this sort for several minutes.
-
Printing.
-
any of the individual characters making up a font of type.
-
characters of a particular font that are rarely used.
-
-
an instance of sorting.
verb (used with object)
-
to arrange according to sort, kind, or class; separate into sorts; classify.
to sort socks;
to sort eggs by grade.
-
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.
-
to assign to a particular class, group, or place (often followed by with, together, etc.).
to sort people together indiscriminately.
-
Scot. to provide with food and shelter.
-
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)
-
Archaic. to suit; agree; fit.
-
British Dialect. to associate, mingle, or be friendly.
verb phrase
idioms
-
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.
-
-
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.
-
-
sort of, in a way; somewhat; rather.
Their conversation was sort of tiresome.
noun
-
a class, group, kind, etc, as distinguished by some common quality or characteristic
-
informal type of character, nature, etc
he's a good sort
-
a more or less definable or adequate example
it's a sort of review
-
(often plural) printing any of the individual characters making up a fount of type
-
archaic manner; way
in this sort we struggled home
-
to some extent
-
-
of an inferior kind
-
of an indefinite kind
-
-
not in normal good health, temper, etc
-
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
-
(tr) to arrange according to class, type, etc
-
(tr) to put (something) into working order
-
(tr) to arrange (computer information) by machine in an order convenient to the computer user
-
informal to supply, esp with drugs
-
archaic (intr; foll by with, together, etc) to associate, as on friendly terms
-
archaic (intr) to agree; accord
Usage
See kind 2.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
sorternoun
-
subsortnoun
-
subsorternoun
-
missortverb
-
subsortverb
-
sortableadjective
-
unsortableadjective
-
sortablyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
sortsimple
-
sortssimple
-
have sortedperfect
-
has sortedperfect
-
are sortingprogressive
-
am sortingprogressive
-
is sortingprogressive
-
have been sortingperfect progressive
-
has been sortingperfect progressive
Past
-
sortedsimple
-
had sortedperfect
-
was sortingprogressive
-
were sortingprogressive
-
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.
Clipse and John Legend performed “The Birds Don’t Sing,” from the rap duo’s “Let God Sort Em Out,” which is up for album of the year at Sunday’s Grammys ceremony.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 1, 2026
"Sort of lost a bit of momentum there," said Byrne.
From Barron's • Nov. 8, 2025
Clipse, the duo of Pusha T and his brother Malice, reunited to release “Let God Sort Em Out,” their first album in more than 15 years, and nabbed five nominations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025
Further down the ballot, “GNX,” “Chromakopia” and “Let God Sort Em Out” will compete with GloRilla’s “Glorious” and JID’s “God Does Like Ugly” for the rap album award.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 7, 2025
Sort of like when Holling Hoodhood came by and dropped Joe Pepitone’s jacket off last summer?
From "Okay for Now" by Gary D. Schmidt
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.
