English Explanatory Dictionary

sort

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A general type.
  2. Manner, way; form of being or acting.
  3. Condition above the vulgar; rank.
  4. A person evaluated in a certain way.
  5. Group, company.
  6. A good-looking woman.
  7. An act of sorting.
  8. An algorithm for sorting a list of items into a particular sequence.
  9. A piece of metal type used to print one letter, character, or symbol in a particular size and style.
  10. A type.
  11. Fate, fortune, destiny.
  12. Anything used to determine the answer to a question by chance; lot.
verb
  1. To separate items into different categories according to certain criteria that determine their sorts.
  2. To arrange into some sequence, usually numerically, alphabetically or chronologically.
  3. To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
  4. To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
  5. To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
  6. To join or associate with others, especially with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
  7. To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
  8. To fix (a problem) or handle (a task).
  9. To attack physically.
  10. To geld.

Pronunciation

sôrt /soɹt/ en-us-sort.ogg /sɔːt/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Back ache-sort.wav /soːt/ en-au-sort.ogg /sɔɹt/

Word forms

sort sorts sorting sorted no-table-tags glossary sortest sortedst sorteth

Etymology

From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (cognate Dutch soort, German Sorte, Danish sort, Swedish sort), borrowed from Old French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sortem, accusative form of sors (“lot, fate, share, rank, category”).

Synonyms

character individual person type glyph sort-out sort algorithm sorting algorithm genre genus kind variety categorize class classify group order rank sort out

Derived words

all sorts in sort out of sorts sorta sort of that's your sort copy sort cycle sort good sort mergesort middling sort missort picture sort sortal sort code topological sort allsorts bogo-sort heapsort introsort quicksort smoothsort timsort alphasort archaeosortase besort cubesort immunosort pick-and-sort presort re-sort resort serosort Shellsort sortability sortable sortase sortation sorted sorting sortkey sort oneself out sort out sort the wheat from the chaff sort through sort-while-pick subsort unsort
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