sort Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality
    kind; form; variety.
    • sculpture is a form of art
    • what kinds of desserts are there?
  2. noun an approximate definition or example
    • she wore a sort of magenta dress
    • she served a creamy sort of dessert thing
  3. noun a person of a particular character or nature
    • what sort of person is he?
    • he's a good sort
  4. noun an operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion
    sorting.
    • the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting
  5. verb examine in order to test suitability
    screen; screen out; sieve.
    • screen these samples
    • screen the job applicants
  6. verb arrange or order by classes or categories
    separate; assort; sort out; class; classify.
    • How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?

WordNet

Sort noun
Etymology
F. sorl, L. sors, sortis. See Sort kind.
Definitions
  1. Chance; lot; destiny. Obs.
    By aventure, or sort, or cas [chance]. Chaucer.
    Let blockish Ajax draw The sort to fight with Hector. Shak.
Sort noun
Etymology
F. sorie (cf. It. sorta, sorte), from L. sors, sorti, a lot, part, probably akin to serere to connect. See Series, and cf. Assort, Consort, Resort, Sorcery, Sort lot.
Definitions
  1. A kind or species; any number or collection of individual persons or things characterized by the same or like qualities; a class or order; as, a sort of men; a sort of horses; a sort of trees; a sort of poems.
  2. Manner; form of being or acting.
    Which for my part I covet to perform, In sort as through the world I did proclaim. Spenser.
    Flowers, in such sort worn, can neither be smelt nor seen well by those that wear them. Hooker.
    I'll deceive you in another sort. Shak.
    To Adam in what sort Shall I appear? Milton.
    I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some sort I have copied his style. Dryden.
  3. Condition above the vulgar; rank. Obs. Shak.
  4. A chance group; a company of persons who happen to be together; a troop; also, an assemblage of animals. Obs. "A sort of shepherds." Spenser. "A sort of steers." Spenser. "A sort of doves." Dryden. "A sort of rogues." Massinger.
    A boy, a child, and we a sort of us, Vowed against his voyage. Chapman.
  5. A pair; a set; a suit. Johnson.
  6. pl. (Print.) Letters, figures, points, marks, spaces, or quadrats, belonging to a case, separately considered. Syn. -- Kind; species; rank; condition. -- Sort, Kind. Kind originally denoted things of the same family, or bound together by some natural affinity; and hence, a class. Sort signifies that which constitutes a particular lot of parcel, not implying necessarily the idea of affinity, but of mere assemblage. the two words are now used to a great extent interchangeably, though sort (perhaps from its original meaning of lot) sometimes carries with it a slight tone of disparagement or contempt, as when we say, that sort of people, that sort of language. <-- surprisingly, "type" is not included in this synonym-list! in MW10, the list under "type" includes kind and sort. "class" is mentioned in the def, but not on the list of synonyms. -->
    As when the total kind Of birds, in orderly array on wing, Came summoned over Eden to receive Their names of there. Milton.
    None of noble sort Would so offend a virgin. Shak.
Sort transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Sorted; present participle & verbal noun Sorting
Definitions
  1. To separate, and place in distinct classes or divisions, as things having different qualities; as, to sort cloths according to their colors; to sort wool or thread according to its fineness.
    Rays which differ in refrangibility may be parted and sorted from one another. Sir I. Newton.
  2. To reduce to order from a confused state. Hooker.
  3. To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
    Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with insects. Bacon.
    She sorts things present with things past. Sir J. Davies.
  4. To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
    That he may sort out a worthy spouse. Chapman.
    I'll sort some other time to visit you. Shak.
  5. To conform; to adapt; to accommodate. R.
    I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience. Shak.
Sort intransitive verb
Definitions
  1. To join or associate with others, esp. with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
    Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the earth, and minerals with minerals. Woodward.
    The illiberality of parents towards children makes them base, and sort with any company. Bacon.
  2. To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
    They are happy whose natures sort with their vocations. Bacon.
    Things sort not to my will. herbert.
    I can not tell you precisely how they sorted. Sir W. Scott.

Webster 1913