- present participle of sort.
sorting
Americannoun
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sortings
plural
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The process by which sediment particles that have a certain characteristic, such as a given shape or grain size, are separated from other associated particles by an active agent of transportation, such as wind, a stream, or a glacier.
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A measure of the degree to which this process has occurred within a body of sediment. Wind-blown sediments are usually well-sorted because only a small range of grain sizes can be lifted by a particular wind velocity. Glacially derived sediments are usually poorly sorted because of the great range of particle sizes that are picked up by a moving glacier.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of sorting
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:
That strategy would transform UPS from a retail-delivery service with sorting concentrated in urban downtowns into a business-to-business carrier, with clients and nighttime sorting hubs all over the country.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
For most of the 20th century, hiring good lawyers was as important to profitably moving goods as implementing efficient sorting operations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 23, 2026
But posties speaking to us anonymously say parcels are still being prioritised, letters left behind, and time wasted in sorting and dividing mail into first and second class.
From BBC ● Oct. 13, 2026
A plan to improve reliability was put in place, which included cutting some services and even removing one type of train as a way of sorting out staffing problems.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026
I’m going to need your help sorting all this girl stuff out.
From "Because of Mr. Terupt" by Rob Buyea
Some of the sortings are heartening: There are more self-made men than born-rich kids in the top 50, and the self-made billionaires’ total wealth is bigger.
From Slate ● Nov. 18, 2013
These responded to every properly-modulated thought wave passing through them and made the same careful sortings as a human cell absorbing matter from the world.
From Cerebrum by Lloyd Birmingham
She could get a white muslin and a white cambric, which, with different sortings of ribbons, served her for all dress-occasions.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 82, August, 1864 by Various
From this year—1851—date the earliest letters preserved in the series of thirty-four boxes which contain the sortings of his vast correspondence.
From The Life of the Rt. Hon. Sir Charles W. Dilke, Volume 1 by Stephen Lucius Gwynn
She could get a white muslin and a white cambric, which, with different sortings of ribbons, served her for all dress occasions.
From Household Papers and Stories by Harriet Beecher Stowe
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