51Թ

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sort

[ sawrt ]

noun

  1. 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.

    Synonyms: , , , , ,

  2. character, quality, or nature:

    young people of a nice sort.

  3. an example of something that is undistinguished or barely adequate:

    He is a sort of poet.

  4. manner, fashion, or way:

    We spoke in this sort for several minutes.

  5. Printing.
    1. any of the individual characters making up a font of type.
    2. characters of a particular font that are rarely used.
  6. an instance of sorting.


verb (used with object)

  1. to arrange according to sort, kind, or class; separate into sorts; classify:

    to sort socks;

    to sort eggs by grade.

  2. to separate or take from other sorts or from others (often followed by out ): to sort out the children's socks.

    to sort the good from the bad;

    to sort out the children's socks.

  3. to assign to a particular class, group, or place (often followed by with, together, etc.):

    to sort people together indiscriminately.

  4. Scot. to provide with food and shelter.
  5. Computers. to place (records) in order, as numerical or alphabetical, based on the contents of one or more keys contained in each record. Compare key 1( def 19 ).

verb (used without object)

  1. Archaic. to suit; agree; fit.
  2. British Dialect. to associate, mingle, or be friendly.

verb phrase

    1. to evolve; develop; turn out:

      We'll just have to wait and see how things sort out.

    2. to put in order; clarify:

      After I sort things out here, I'll be able to concentrate on your problem.

sort

/ ɔː /

noun

  1. a class, group, kind, etc, as distinguished by some common quality or characteristic
  2. informal.
    type of character, nature, etc

    he's a good sort

  3. a more or less definable or adequate example

    it's a sort of review

  4. often plural printing any of the individual characters making up a fount of type
  5. archaic.
    manner; way

    in this sort we struggled home

  6. after a sort
    to some extent
  7. of sorts or of a sort
    1. of an inferior kind
    2. of an indefinite kind
  8. out of sorts
    not in normal good health, temper, etc
  9. sort of informal.
    1. adverb in some way or other; as it were; rather
    2. sentence substitute used to express reservation or qualified assent

      I’m only joking. Sort of

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. tr to arrange according to class, type, etc
  2. tr to put (something) into working order
  3. tr to arrange (computer information) by machine in an order convenient to the computer user
  4. informal.
    trfoll bywith to supply, esp with drugs
  5. archaic.
    intr; foll by with, together, etc to associate, as on friendly terms
  6. archaic.
    intr to agree; accord
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Usage Note

See kind 2.
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Usage

See kind 2
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Derived Forms

  • ˈǰٲ, adjective
  • ˈǰٱ, noun
  • ˈǰٲ, adverb
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Other 51Թ Forms

  • ǰa· adjective
  • ǰa· adverb
  • ǰİ noun
  • ·ǰ verb
  • ܲsǰ noun
  • ܲ·ǰ verb
  • sub·ǰİ noun
  • ܲd·ǰ verb (used with object)
  • ܲ·ǰ verb (used with object)
  • un·ǰa· adjective
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of sort1

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 ǰīī “to draw lots,” derivative of sors; later senses influenced by the noun and by assort
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51Թ History and Origins

Origin of sort1

C14: from Old French, from Medieval Latin sors kind, from Latin: fate
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Idioms and Phrases

  1. of sorts, Also of a sort.
    1. of a mediocre or poor kind:

      a tennis player of sorts.

    2. of one sort or another; of an indefinite kind.
  2. out of sorts,
    1. in low spirits; depressed.
    2. in poor health; indisposed; ill.
    3. in a bad temper; irritable:

      to be out of sorts because of the weather.

    4. Printing. short of certain characters of a font of type.
  3. sort of, Informal. in a way; somewhat; rather:

    Their conversation was sort of tiresome.

More idioms and phrases containing sort

see after a fashion (sort) ; all kinds (sorts) of ; bad sort ; it takes all sorts ; kind (sort) of ; nothing of the kind (sort) ; of sorts ; out of sorts .
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

"I've got threads and threads of nobody wanting to communicate with me, and I was asking for so much help to try and sort this out."

From

A force with depth & weight which will take some time to sort out.

From

Not that Trương presents any of this in any sort of schematic way.

From

It's difficult to sort of see "any kind of clear strategy or intention," from the Trump administration so far, she tells the BBC.

From

"I never switch on the TV and hear any sort of strong voice," he said.

From

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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.

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