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:
"They're winners, they're relentless, and that's the sort of team I want to be a part of - champions and people who win trophies," Anderson said.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2026
Wall texts remind us that the equipment and materials photographers use for their craft are all dependent on mining of one sort or another.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
“I’ve watched the brand over the years sort of bounce around and not do anything,” Siegel said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 22, 2026
"I think these differences will exist for the foreseeable future, and our job is to sort of manage those so that they never get out of control," he said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 22, 2026
The sort of look that seemed obvious, even for me, who struggled to pick up on anything subtle.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
When certain stocks have been rising for a while, all sorts of “Number Go Up” bros and fund managers jump on board, driving them even higher.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 22, 2026
"It's more likely that when Australia was part of Gondwana it was swarming with all sorts of bizarre, primitive marsupial-like things, and that several of them survived and led to our modern lineages."
From Science Daily ● Jul. 19, 2026
Her agency has fielded all sorts of parenting requests: providing equestrian nannies who travel to tournaments, baby chefs to prepare culturally specific purées for infants, personal stylists for the children.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
“Foreign Tongues” pointedly concludes with Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah” as an homage of sorts to the forefathers who made the band’s existence possible in the first place.
From Salon ● Jul. 13, 2026
To the right was an open library filled with all sorts of books.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
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
She carried both pebbles and crystals in her mouth to a wooden platform, where she sorted them into separate groups.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 15, 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
Here are consensus second-quarter earnings-per-share estimates for the largest 20 U.S. banks, sorted by total assets.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 12, 2026
Kazi pushed a pot of lentils to be sorted toward me, his head still down.
From "The Night Diary" by Veera Hiranandani
Rather than lifting the Magnificent Seven as one, they could ignite a further sorting of what appears to be the winners from losers across the broader AI trade — chips and software included.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 19, 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
A 67-year-old south Armagh man has been found not guilty of the murder of Newry postal worker Frank Kerr during a 1994 IRA robbery of the city's postal sorting office.
From BBC ● Jul. 1, 2026
All of a sudden you’re sorting through a snake’s nest of dusty cables and cords, trying to tell a receiver from a hard drive.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 1, 2026
Lily is sorting through the bottles and sticks and containers that she’s spread out all over my bed, her hair tucked neatly behind her ears.
From "How to Disappear Completely" by Ali Standish
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.