sort

noun

\ ˈsȯrt

Definition of sort

(Entry 1 of 2)

1a : a group set up on the basis of any characteristic in common : class, kind

b : one approximating the character or qualities of another a sort of latter-day Abe Lincoln

c : person, individual he's not a bad sort

2 archaic : group, company

3a archaic : method or manner of acting : way, manner

b : character, nature people of an evil sort

4a : a letter or character that is one element of a font

b : a character or piece of type that is not part of a regular font

5 : an instance of sorting a numeric sort of a data file

after a sort

: in a rough or haphazard way plays the piano, after a sort

all sorts of

: many different : all kinds of knows all sorts of people

of sorts or of a sort

: in some respects but not entirely or truly a vacation of sorts

out of sorts

1 : somewhat ill

2 : grouchy, irritable

sort

verb

sorted; sorting; sorts

Definition of sort (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

1a : to put in a certain place or rank according to kind, class, or nature sort apples sort mail

b : to arrange according to characteristics : classify —usually used with out sort out colors

2 chiefly Scotland : to put to rights : put in order

3a : to examine in order to clarify —used with out sorting out his problems

b : to free of confusion : clarify —used with out waited until things sorted themselves out

intransitive verb

1 : to join or associate with others especially of the same kind sort with thieves

2 : agree, harmonize his benign view sorts badly with reality— Henry Trewhitt

3 : search sort through some old papers

Other Words from sort Synonyms Choose the Right Synonym More Example Sentences Learn More about sort

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Choose the Right Synonym for sort

Noun

type, kind, sort, nature, description, character mean a number of individuals thought of as a group because of a common quality or qualities. type may suggest strong and clearly marked similarity throughout the items included so that each is typical of the group. one of three basic body types kind may suggest natural grouping. a zoo seemingly having animals of every kind sort often suggests some disparagement. the sort of newspaper dealing in sensational stories nature may imply inherent, essential resemblance rather than obvious or superficial likenesses. two problems of a similar nature description implies a group marked by agreement in all details belonging to a type as described or defined. not all acts of that description are actually illegal character implies a group marked by distinctive likenesses peculiar to the type. research on the subject so far has been of an elementary character

Examples of sort in a Sentence

Noun

What sort of car do you drive? He's not a bad sort. She's not the sort to complain. The program did a numeric sort of the data.

Verb

She started to sort the mail. They sorted the winners from the losers. The program can sort data alphabetically or numerically.

Recent Examples on the Web: Noun

The country has been in a competition of sorts to be the fourth nation in history to land a spacecraft on the moon. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "India Will Attempt to Land on the Moon in September," 9 May 2019 WeWork gets credit for being a disrupter of sorts, and the company certainly has played up its lack of conventionality. — Lauren Silva Laughlin, WSJ, "WeWork Builds Real-Estate IPO on Tech Foundation," 29 Apr. 2019 This current stalemate is a civil war of sorts — and the union isn’t backing down. — Kim Kelly, Teen Vogue, "Hollywood's Labor Force Has Always Had to Fight for Workers' Rights," 23 Apr. 2019 For women in America, turning 40 is a death of sorts. — Melanie Hamlett, Glamour, "Men My Age Wouldn’t Date Me, so I Became a ‘Cougar’," 5 Apr. 2019 Gaethje viewed the fight as an elimination bout of sorts for each fighter to stay in the hunt for a championship match against Khabib Nurmagomedov. — Dan Gelston, The Seattle Times, "Broad Street Bullies: UFC set to hit Philly for 3rd time," 29 Mar. 2019 Plenty of new housing developments these days choose an unoffensive gray of sorts for their whole exterior, but not this one. — Liz Stinson, Curbed, "These new homes stand out with colorful louvers," 30 Nov. 2018 These are systems which are extremely isolated from any outside environment and create a testing grounds of sorts for the basic fundamentals of physics. — David Grossman, Popular Mechanics, "Scientists Get Nanoparticles Spinning a Billion Times Per Second," 19 July 2018 The Natural Hazards Center is a repository of sorts for research and best practices in the realm of emergencies and disaster. — Jason Pohl, azcentral, "Fires, floods, hurricanes: Disaster experts weigh ‘new normal’," 14 July 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

One of the big unknowns for U.S. economic growth heading into the presidential election year needs to be sorted out by lawmakers in the coming months: the path for government spending. — Kate Davidson, WSJ, "Spending Battle Clouds Outlook for U.S. Growth," 7 Apr. 2019 Children were often sorted by country, gender and age, to keep older and younger ones apart. — Author: Maria Sacchetti, Kevin Sieff, Marc Fisher, Anchorage Daily News, "Separated migrant children are all over the country," 25 June 2018 The start of the game was delayed several minutes as officials sorted out a lineup discrepancy. — Stephen Whyno, The Seattle Times, "Holtby sharp as Capitals beat Flyers to end losing streak," 24 Mar. 2019 The name of the game was to build political support for an idea that currently had little support and sort the details out later. — Matthew Yglesias, Vox, "The $21 trillion Pentagon accounting error that can’t pay for Medicare-for-all, explained," 3 Dec. 2018 Liverpool appear set to make an audacious bid of €65m for AS Roma's Alisson as Jurgen Klopp looks to sort his goalkeeping situation once and for all. — SI.com, "Liverpool Attempt to Beat Rivals to Brazilian International's Signing With €65m Offer," 12 July 2018 The great political challenge of our time is sorting out what matters from what’s just chatter. — Daniel Henninger, WSJ, "Story of the Year," 6 Mar. 2019 And if shoppers come away hungry, Rose Bakery will sort them out. — Laura Regensdorf, Vogue, "Simone Rocha and Laila Gohar Create a Fantasy Banquet Inside Dover Street Market," 8 Feb. 2019 The civil rights movement sorted black voters into the Democratic Party and pushed racially conservative white Southerners to defect to the GOP. — Zack Beauchamp, Vox, "The 9 thinkers who made sense of 2018’s chaos," 27 Dec. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'sort.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.