sort
Americannoun
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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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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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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:
“Were the reporters asleep at the switch or did they knowingly engage in some sort of deal with the 49ers to not release it?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
The project “needs to be done in partnership with the community and sort of their own vision for their economic development.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Befitting its role as the ur-text of Western letters, “The Odyssey” can be read as a sort of ancient World Cup.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 27, 2026
"His confidence has really increased and he seems to be sort of developing some really lovely friendships with the other volunteers," she said.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
What he was looking for was some sort of prior warning… some sort of proof that the Afterlife did, in fact, love him.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
Novelties at Mayer am Nussberg that would have bamboozled Keller's ancestors include vegan food, alcohol-free wine -- of which Keller offers four sorts -- and self-service order touchscreens.
From Barron's ● Jul. 26, 2026
His celebrations will have to wait for now, but by Tuesday, Ward could well be getting up to all sorts of capers in Glasgow with his Scotland team-mates.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Years ago, Matthew Jackson and I built a model of how the mind sorts information into categories for cognitive efficiency.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
“We see the same sorts of problems and concerns and misery that we’ve been seeing for the last 15 months,” said Welch, the Children’s Rights attorney.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
The sharp formations melt together to create a mirror of sorts.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
Here they are, this time sorted by projected sales CAGR:
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 28, 2026
The food "lasts me quite a long time, since there aren't many of us," she told AFP as she sorted through the donations.
From Barron's ● Jul. 18, 2026
With stadium clubs, exclusive viewing areas and luxury suites, “fans are getting sorted and separated by how much they can pay.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
At this stage, visual information is sorted into more than a dozen parallel channels that process features such as daylight, nighttime vision, color, contrast, and shape.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 14, 2026
“I told the social workers you and Boo could stay here for the next week, until we get this sorted out. It’s the least I can do for your grandma Mae.”
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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
My brother was saddened by her death, but he did not want to be involved in sorting through her affairs, so I managed it on my own.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
The team also found that the more the car sorting task was "offloaded" from the prefrontal cortex, the better participants performed a second task at the same time.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 12, 2026
Steele said they had finished sorting the first load of food at about 01:00 BST on Monday before returning to the circuit just a few hours later.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
Beside me, Louise went to work, sorting through the handkerchiefs for the one embroidered with violets.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
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.
