sort
UK /sɔːt/ · US /soɹt/ noun, verb
Forms sorts sorting sorted sortest sortedst sorteth
- noun A general type.
- noun (archaic) Manner, way; form of being or acting.
- noun (obsolete) Condition above the vulgar; rank.
- noun (informal) A person evaluated in a certain way. “good sort, bad sort”
- noun (obsolete) Group, company.
- noun (UK, Australia, informal) A good-looking woman.
- noun An act of sorting. “I had a sort of my cupboard.”
- noun (computing) An algorithm for sorting a list of items into a particular sequence. “Popular algorithms for sorts include quicksort and heapsort.”
- verb (transitive) To separate items into different categories according to certain criteria that determine their sorts. “Sort the letters in those bags into a separate pile for each language.”
- verb (transitive) To arrange into some sequence, usually numerically, alphabetically or chronologically. “Sort those bells into a row in ascending sequence of pitch.”
- verb (transitive) To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
- verb (transitive, obsolete) To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
- verb (intransitive) To join or associate with others, especially with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
- verb (intransitive) To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
- verb (UK, colloquial, transitive) To fix (a problem) or handle (a task).
Synonyms
sort-out sort algorithm sorting algorithm genre genus kind type variety character individual person categorize class classify group order rank sort out form sorting screen screen out sieve assort separate
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”).
From Middle English sorten, from Old French sortir (“to allot, sort”), from Latin sortīre (“draw lots, divide, choose”), from sors.
Webster’s 1913
- noun Chance; lot; destiny. [Obs.]
- noun 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.
- noun Manner; form of being or acting.
- verb 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.
Etymology [F. sorl, L. sors, sortis. See Sort kind.]
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.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “sort”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details