Definitions for sort
sɔrtsort

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:1.0 / 2 votes

1. kind, sort, form, varietynoun

   a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality

   "sculpture is a form of art"; "what kinds of desserts are there?"

2. sortnoun

   an approximate definition or example

   "she wore a sort of magenta dress"; "she served a creamy sort of dessert thing"

3. sortnoun

   a person of a particular character or nature

   "what sort of person is he?"; "he's a good sort"

4. sort, sortingverb

   an operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion

   "the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting"

5. screen, screen out, sieve, sortverb

   examine in order to test suitability

   "screen these samples"; "screen the job applicants"

6. classify, class, sort, assort, sort out, separateverb

   arrange or order by classes or categories

   "How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?"

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Sortnoun

   Etymology: sorte, French.

   1. A kind; a species.

   Disfigur’d more than spirit of happy sort. John Milton.

   A substantial and unaffected piety, not only gives a man a credit among the sober and virtuous, but even among the vicious sort of men. John Tillotson.

   These three sorts of poems should differ in their numbers, designs, and every thought. William Walsh.

   Endeavouring to make the signification of specifick names clear, they make their specifick ideas of the sorts of substances of a few of those simple ideas found in them. John Locke.

   2. A manner; a form of being or acting.

   Flowers in such sort worn, can neither be smelt nor seen well by those that wear them. Richard Hooker.

   That I may laugh at her in equal sort
   As she doth laugh at me, and makes my pain her sport. Edmund Spenser, Sonnet.

   Rheum and Shimshai wrote after this sort. Ezra iv. 8.

   To Adam in what sort shall I appear? John Milton.

   3. A degree of any quality.

   I have written the more boldly unto you, in some sort, as putting you in mind. Rom. xv. 15.

   I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some sort I have copied his stile. Dryden.

   4. A class, or order of persons.

   The one being a thing that belongeth generally unto all, the other, such as none but the wiser and more judicious sort can perform. Richard Hooker.

   I have bought
   Golden opinions from all sorts of people. William Shakespeare.

   Hospitality to the better sort, and charity to the poor, two virtues that are never exercised so well as when they accompany each other. Francis Atterbury, Sermons.

   5. A company; a knot of people.

   Mine eyes are full of tears: I cannot see;
   And yet salt water blinds them not so much,
   But they can see a sort of traitors here. William Shakespeare.

   6. Rank; condition above the vulgar.

   Is signior Montanto returned from the wars? —— I know none of that name, lady; there was none such in the army of any sort. William Shakespeare, Much ado about Nothing.

   7. [ Sort, Fr. sortes, Latin.] A lot. Out of use.

   Make a lott’ry,
   And by decree, let blockish Ajax
   Draw the sort to fight with Hector. William Shakespeare.

   8. A pair; a set.

   The first sort by their own suggestion fell. John Milton.

2. To Sortverb

   Etymology: Sortiri, Lat. assortire, Italian.

   1. To separate into distinct and proper classes.

   These they sorted into their several times and places; some to begin the service of God with, and some to end; some to be interlac’d between the divine readings of the law and prophets. Richard Hooker.

   I come to thee for charitable licence,
   To sort our nobles from our common men. William Shakespeare.

   A piece of cloth made of white and black threads though the whole appear neither white nor black, but grey; yet each remains what it was before, if the threads were pulled asunder, and sorted each colour by itself. Boyle.

   Shell-fish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with the insects. Francis Bacon, Natural History.

   With this desire, she hath a native might
   To find out ev’ry truth, if she had time;
   Th’ innumerable effects to sort aright,
   And by degrees from cause to cause to climb. Davies.

   The number of simple ideas, that make the nominal essence of the lowest species, or first sorting of individuals, depends on the mind of man. John Locke.

   The rays which differ in refrangibility may be parted and sorted from one another, and that either by refraction, or by reflexion. Isaac Newton, Opticks.

   But grant that actions best discover man,
   Take the most strong and sort them as you can;
   The few that glare, each character must mark:
   You balance not the many in the dark. Alexander Pope.

   2. To reduce to order from a state of confusion.

   Let me not be light;
   For a light wife doth make a heavy husband;
   And never be Bassanio so from me;
   But God sort all! William Shakespeare, Merch. of Venice.

   3. To conjoin; to put together in distribution.

   For, when she sorts things present with things past,
   And thereby things to come doth oft foresee;
   When she doth doubt at first, and chuse at first,
   These acts her own, without her body be. Davies.

   4. To cull; to chuse; to select.

   Send his mother to his father’s house,
   That he may sort her out a worthy spouse. George Chapman.

3. To Sortverb

   1. To be joined with others of the same species.

   Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the earth, and minerals with minerals; but both in common together. John Woodward.

   2. To consort; to join.

   The illiberality of parents towards their children, makes them base and sort with any company. Francis Bacon.

   3. To suit; to fit.

   A man cannot speak to a son but as a father; whereas a friend may speak as the case requires, and not as it sorteth with the person. Francis Bacon.

   They are happy whose natures sort with their vocations. Francis Bacon.

   Among unequals, what society
   Can sort, what harmony, or true delight?
   Which must be mutual, in proportion due,
   Giv’n, and receiv’d. John Milton, Paradise Lost.

   The Creator calling forth by name
   His mighty angels, gave them several charge,
   As sorted best with present things. John Milton, Paradise Lost.

   For diff’rent stiles with diff’rent subjects sort,
   As several garbs with country, town, and court. Alexander Pope.

   4. To terminate; to issue.

   It sorted not to any fight of importance, but to a retreat. Francis Bacon, War with Spain.

   5. To have success.

   The slips of their vines have been brought into Spain, but they have not sorted to the same purpose as in their native country. George Abbot, Description of the World.

   It was tried in a blown bladder, whereunto flesh and a flower were put, and it sorted not; for dry bladders will not blow, and new bladders further putrefaction. Francis Bacon.

   6. To fall out. [from sort, a lot, or sortir, to issue, French.]

   And so far am I glad it did so sort,
   As this their jangling I esteem a sport. William Shakespeare.

   Princes cannot gather this fruit, except they raise some persons to be companions; which many times sorteth to inconvenience. Francis Bacon.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Sort

   The Treaty Between the United States of America and the Russian Federation on Strategic Offensive Reductions (SORT), also known as the Treaty of Moscow, was a strategic arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia that was in force from June 2003 until February 2011 when it was superseded by the New START treaty.At the time, SORT was positioned as "represent[ing] an important element of the new strategic relationship" between the two countries with both parties agreeing to limit their nuclear arsenal to between 1,700 and 2,200 operationally deployed warheads each. It was signed in Moscow on 24 May 2002. After ratification by the U.S. Senate and the State Duma, SORT came into force on 1 June 2003. It would have expired on 31 December 2012 if not superseded by New START. Either party could have withdrawn from the treaty upon giving three months written notice to the other.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sort

   Sort refers to the process of organizing, arranging, or categorizing items or data according to certain properties, characteristics, or criteria. This can involve arranging data in a specific sequence or order, such as ascending, descending, alphabetical, chronological, or numerical. Sorting can apply in various contexts such as in computing, mathematics, or everyday activities.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Sortnoun

   chance; lot; destiny

2. Sortnoun

   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

3. Sortnoun

   manner; form of being or acting

4. Sortnoun

   condition above the vulgar; rank

5. Sortnoun

   a chance group; a company of persons who happen to be together; a troop; also, an assemblage of animals

6. Sortnoun

   a pair; a set; a suit

7. Sortnoun

   letters, figures, points, marks, spaces, or quadrats, belonging to a case, separately considered

8. Sortverb

   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

9. Sortverb

   to reduce to order from a confused state

10. Sortverb

    to conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class

11. Sortverb

    to choose from a number; to select; to cull

12. Sortverb

    to conform; to adapt; to accommodate

13. Sortverb

    to join or associate with others, esp. with others of the same kind or species; to agree

14. Sortverb

    to suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize

15. Etymology: [F. sorl, L. sors, sortis. See Sort kind.]

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Sort

   sort, n. a number of persons or things having like qualities: class, kind, or species: order or rank: manner.—v.t. to separate into lots or classes: to put together: to select: to procure, adapt: to geld: (Scot.) to adjust, put right, dispose, fix: to punish.—v.i. to be joined with others of the same sort: to associate: to suit.—adj. Sort′able, capable of being sorted: (Bacon) suitable, befitting.—ns. Sort′ance (Shak.), suitableness, agreement; Sort′er, one who separates and arranges, as letters; Sort′es, lots used in divination by passages selected by hazard from the Bible, Homer, Virgil, &c.; Sort′ilege, the act or practice of divination by drawing lots; Sorti′tion, the casting of lots; Sort′ment, act of sorting.—In a sort (Shak.), in a manner; In sort, inasmuch as; Out of sorts, out of order, unwell: (print.) with some sorts of type in the font exhausted. [O. Fr. sorte—L. sors, sortis, a lot—serĕre, to join.]

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:2.0 / 1 vote

1. sort

   "That's your sort," means approval of a deed.

Editors ContributionRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. sort

   To put into a specific order.

   They did sort their clothing out when winter was complete to ensure they had their Spring clothing ready.

   
   

   Submitted by MaryC on March 10, 2020  

Suggested ResourcesRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. SORT

   What does SORT stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the SORT acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Matched Categories

1. • Person
   • Similarity

British National Corpus

1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'sort' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #748

2. Written Corpus Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'sort' in Written Corpus Frequency: #173

3. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'sort' in Nouns Frequency: #143

4. Verbs Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'sort' in Verbs Frequency: #494

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

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How to pronounce sort?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say sort in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of sort in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of sort in Pythagorean Numerology is: 9

Examples of sort in a Sentence

1. William White:

   It's something I've never heard of or seen, all of a sudden here, like a ton of bricks. I'm sort of speechless.

2. Jonathan Swift:

   Argument is the worst sort of conversation.

3. Author Unknown:

   A patient going to a doctor for his first visit was asked, "And whom did you consult before coming to me?""Only the village druggist," was the answer."And what sort of foolish advice did that numbskull give you?" asked the doctor, his tone and manner denoting his contempt for the advice of the layman."Oh," replied his patient, with no malice aforethought, "he told me to come and see you."

4. Elizabeth Cherot:

   What happened in 2020 and 2021 compared with 2019 is Covid, this is sort of my reflection on this time period, Covid-19 and pregnancy. Women were at increased risk for morbidity and mortality from Covid. And that actually has been well-proven in some studies, showing increased risks of death, but also being ventilated in the intensive care unit, preeclampsia and blood clots, all of those things increasing a risk of morbidity and mortality.

5. Kellyanne Conway:

   If you had told me three years ago that it would come to this, I wouldn't have believed it... I don't think I could have imagined a president, any president, engaging in this sort of conduct.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=sort
2. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=sort
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sort
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sort
6. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=sort
7. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=sort
8. ^ Usage in printed sources
   https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=sort