- 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:
Collect everything in one bin, send it to a central sorting plant, pull out recyclables and organics by machine, turn the organics into biogas and soil amendment, and burn the rest.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 7, 2026
Family dynamics run deep, and sorting through the complications involved in restricting a connection to the outside world or keeping tabs on an older person will look different for every household.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026
It was viewed as a critical tool for sorting through vast quantities of information, the people said.
From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026
One of its TV commercials has it sorting the user’s emails to prioritize “what’s important,” placing a carpool schedule on the family calendar, ordering school supplies and turning on her stereo for a house party.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 2, 2026
But as she was sorting through her not-very-many dresses and deciding that the note to strike should be serious and quiet, her letter box clattered.
From "The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage" by Philip Pullman
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
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
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
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
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
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