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sort

sorts; sorting; sorted

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."

Definitions of sort
  1. noun
    a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
    synonyms: form, kind, variety
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    types:
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    description
    sort or variety
    type
    a subdivision of a particular kind of thing
    antitype
    an opposite or contrasting type
    art form
    (architecture) a form of artistic expression (such as writing or painting or architecture)
    style
    a particular kind (as to appearance)
    flavor, flavour
    (physics) the six kinds of quarks
    color, colour
    (physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction
    species
    a specific kind of something
    genus
    a general kind of something
    brand, make
    a recognizable kind
    genre
    a kind of literary or artistic work
    ilk, like
    a kind of person
    manner
    a kind
    model
    a type of product
    stripe
    a kind or category
    like, the like, the likes of
    a similar kind
    breed
    a special type
    nature
    a particular type of thing
    edition, variant, variation, version
    something a little different from others of the same type
    architectural style, style of architecture, type of architecture
    architecture as a kind of art form
    charm
    (physics) one of the six flavors of quark
    strangeness
    (physics) one of the six flavors of quark
    sonata form
    a musical form having 3 sections -- exposition and development and recapitulation; characteristic of 1st movement of a sonata or symphony
    type of:
    category
    a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme
  2. noun
    an approximate definition or example
    “she wore a sort of magenta dress”
    “she served a creamy sort of dessert thing”
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    similarity
    the quality of being similar
  3. noun
    a person of a particular character or nature
    “what sort of person is he?”
    “he's a good sort
  4. verb
    arrange or order by classes or categories
    synonyms: assort, class, classify, separate, sort out
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    unitise, unitize
    separate or classify into units
    catalog, catalogue
    make an itemized list or catalog of; classify
    isolate
    separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them
    refer
    think of, regard, or classify under a subsuming principle or with a general group or in relation to another
    reclassify
    classify anew, change the previous classification
    size
    sort according to size
    dichotomise, dichotomize
    divide into two opposing groups or kinds
    pigeonhole, stamp, stereotype
    treat or classify according to a mental stereotype
    group
    arrange into a group or groups
    grade
    determine the grade of or assign a grade to
    count, number
    put into a group
    regroup
    reorganize into new groups
    bracket
    classify or group
    chunk, collocate, lump
    group or chunk together in a certain order or place side by side
    batch
    batch together; assemble or process as a batch
    type of:
    categorise, categorize
    place into or assign to a category
  5. verb
    examine in order to test suitability
    synonyms: screen, screen out, sieve
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    choose, pick out, select, take
    pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives
  6. noun
    an operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion
    “the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting
    synonyms: sorting
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    operation
    (computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction)
DISCLAIMER: These example sentences appear in various news sources and books to reflect the usage of the word ‘sort'. Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Vocabulary.com or its editors. Send us feedback
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