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

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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

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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 want to be careful to even set any sort of expectations,” McVay said during a videoconference with reporters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

Which, by the way, has been sort of my stock in trade for my entire career.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

So even just to get them to sort of endear an animal that usually gives people a sort of like a reaction of like “ugh,” just that alone is a win for me.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

We are determined to protect our communities from the sort of appalling behaviour that we historically see at this time of year.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026

They still have no idea where they are headed or what they are doing there, only that they’re involved in some sort of cultural military organization.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

"I think there are all sorts of opportunities - style-mogging, height-mogging, car-mogging," says Thorne.

From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026

A North Korean official was quoted as saying the test was conducted "because our armed forces should defend the security of the country and deter all sorts of threats."

From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026

“Maybe,” she said, “owning a sequoia is like walking a dog. It introduces you to all sorts of people you might not meet otherwise.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

Kloza expects gasoline prices to see a seasonal decline, which may “spark all sorts of conjecture about refiners making too much gasoline when there isn’t demand for it.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

Gilded cages held all sorts of birds she'd never seen before.

From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton

Instacart said the shoppers were assigned to pricing experiments randomly, not sorted by income, demographics or browsing history.

From Salon ● Nov. 2, 2026

Speaking to reporters earlier this week, European officials downplayed the possibility of a major announcement on Canada's new relationship with EU, saying much will be sorted in the coming months.

From BBC ● Oct. 29, 2026

Here they are, sorted by ascending forward P/E:

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

But the winners and losers still need to be sorted.

From Barron's ● Oct. 22, 2026

There was a mat and a pillow in one corner and a shelf along one wall covered in coils of wire, tin snips, pliers, and little glass jars filled with sorted pieces of metal.

From "A Wish in the Dark" by Christina Soontornvat

The Alaska Supreme Court did a decent job, though, of sorting this out.

From Slate ● Oct. 31, 2026

Here’s a cheat sheet for sorting it all out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2026

I’m sorting through a lot of advice right now.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026

The part-time festival worker and artist says his days are spent sorting postcards, processing letters and arranging for the post to hitch a ride north on passing ships before being distributed around the world.

From BBC ● Oct. 25, 2026

Beside me, Louise went to work, sorting through the handkerchiefs for the one embroidered with violets.

From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck

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Related Words

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

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