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sort

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: sórt, sòrt, sört, and şort

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English sort, soort, sorte (= 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”).

Noun

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sort (plural sorts)

  1. A general type.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for. It twisted and turned, and, the first thing I knew, made a sudden bend around a bunch of bayberry scrub and opened out into a big clear space like a lawn.
    • 1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
      “ […] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
        Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 17, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
      The face which emerged was not reassuring. […]. He was not a mongol but there was a deficiency of a sort there, and it was not made more pretty by a latter-day hair cut which involved eccentrically long elf-locks and oiled black curls.
    • 2013 June 14, Sam Leith, “Where the profound meets the profane”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 37:
      Swearing doesn't just mean what we now understand by "dirty words". It is entwined, in social and linguistic history, with the other sort of swearing: vows and oaths.
  2. (archaic) Manner, way; form of being or acting.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “(please specify the book)”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
      Soon as the term of those six years shall cease,
      Ye then shall hither back return again,
      The marriage to accomplish vow’d betwixt you twain.
      Which for my part, I covet to perform,
      In sort as through the world I did proclaim,
      That whoso kill’d that monster (most deform)
      And him in hardy battle overcame,
      Should have mine only daughter to his Dame […]
    • 1845, Richard Hooker, Works of that Learned and Judicious Divine […] ‎[2]:
      Such is that argument whereby they that wore on their heads garlands are charged as transgressors of nature’s law, and guilty of sacrilege against God the Lord of nature, inasmuch as flowers, in such sort worn can neither be smelt nor seen well by those that wear them; and God made flowers sweet and beautiful, that being seen and smelt unto, they might so delight.
    • ca 1590, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus:
      I’ll deceive you in another sort
    • 1667, John Milton, Paradise lost‎[3]:
      But to Adam in what sort
      Shall I appeer? shall I to him make known
      As yet my change, and give him to partake
      Full happiness with mee, or rather not,
      But keep the odds of Knowledge within my power
      Without copartner?
    • 1697, John Dryden, The Works of John Dryden, Volume V: Poems‎[4], →ISBN:
      I acknowledge, with Segrais, that I have not succeeded in this attempt, according to my desire: yet I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some sort I may be allow’d to have copied the Clearness, the Purity, the Easiness and the Magnificence of his stile.
    • 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter II, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
      Carried somehow, somewhither, for some reason, on these surging floods, were these travelers, of errand not wholly obvious to their fellows, yet of such sort as to call into query alike the nature of their errand and their own relations. It is easily earned repetition to state that Josephine St. Auban's was a presence not to be concealed.
    • 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison, The Worm Ouroboros‎[5], London: Jonathan Cape, page 27:
      With the might of that throw Goldry’s wrath departed from him and left him strengthless, in such sort that he reeled as he went from the wrastling ground.
  3. (obsolete) Condition above the vulgar; rank.
    • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V:
      “What think you, Captain Fluellen? is it fit this soldier keep his oath?”
      “He is a craven and a villain else, an’t please your majesty, in my conscience.”
      “It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort, quite from the answer of his degree.”
      “Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is, as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath.”
  4. (informal) A person evaluated in a certain way.
    good sort, bad sort
    • 1999 October, Heinrich Müller, Müller Journals: 1948-1950, The Washington years‎[6]:
      There is no problem with this and he seems to be a decent sort with very good reflexes. I will have Felix replaced with him when we get back to Washington because he is more acceptable.
    • 2014, Mykel D. Myles, The Long Night Of The Demon, →ISBN:
      Amo, he is the prince. And he is a good sort. You, My Husband, should be among his circle
    • 2014, Seema Jha, Charade978-1-4969-8816-4:
      One doesn't need to be Einstein to realize he is a bad sort / My wife always said as much.
  5. (obsolete) Group, company.
    • 1595, Edmund Spenser, The Poetical Works of Edmund Spenser‎[7]:
      a sort of shepherds suing of the Chace
    • 1687, John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther‎[8]:
      a sort of doves were housed too near their hall
    • 1622, Philip Massinger, The Virgin Martyr‎[9]:
      What good got you by wearing out your feet,
      To run on scurvy errands to the poor,
      and to bear mony to a sort of rogues
      And lousy prisoners?
    • 1616, George Chapman, The Odysseys of Homer‎[10]:
      A boy, a child, and we a sort of us,
      Vowed against his voyage, yet admit it thus!
  6. (British, Australia, informal) A good-looking woman.
  7. An act of sorting.
    I had a sort of my cupboard.
  8. (computing) An algorithm for sorting a list of items into a particular sequence.
    Popular algorithms for sorts include quicksort and heapsort.
    • 2014, Donald E. Knuth, The Art of Computer Programming. Sorting and Searching, →ISBN:
      The fastest general algorithm we have considered that sorts keys in a stable manner is the list merge sort, but it does not use minimum storage
  10. (typography) A piece of metal type used to print one letter, character, or symbol in a particular size and style.
    • 2024 May 5, Holly Black, “Remnants of a Legendary Typeface Have Been Rescued From the River Thames”, in artnet‎[11]:
      Green managed to recover a total of 151 sorts (the name for individual pieces of type) out of a possible 500,000.
  11. (mathematics) A type.
  12. (obsolete) Fate, fortune, destiny.
  13. (obsolete) Anything used to determine the answer to a question by chance; lot.
    • c. 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida:
      No, make a lottery;
      And, by device, let blockish Ajax draw
      The sort to fight with Hector.
  14. (obsolete) A full set of anything, such as a pair of shoes or a suit of clothes.[1]
Quotations
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Synonyms
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Hyponyms
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(computing) Algorithm for sorting a list of items
Derived terms
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(computing) Algorithm for sorting a list of items
non-computer-specific terms related to "sort"
other "sort" terms, not sorted by sort
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English sorten, from Old French sortir (“to allot, sort”), from Latin sortīre (“draw lots, divide, choose”), from sors.

Verb

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sort (third-person singular simple present sorts, present participle sorting, simple past and past participle sorted)

  2. (transitive) To separate items into different categories according to certain criteria that determine their sorts.
    Synonyms: categorize, class, classify, group
    Sort the letters in those bags into a separate pile for each language.
    • 1704, Isaac Newton, Opticks:
      And seeing the Rays which differ in Refrangibility may be parted and sorted from one another, and that either by Refraction..., or by Reflexion..., and then the several sorts apart at equal Incidences suffer unequal Refractions,...; it's manifest that the Sun's Light is an heterogeneous Mixture of Rays..., as was proposed.
    • 1929, Percival Christopher Wren, Good Gestes, The McSnorrt Reminiscent:
      "Is there a man among ye has the Gaelic? ... Is there a man among ye can speak English even? ... Is there a man among ye at all? Ye gang o' lasceevious auld de'ils, decked oot like weemin, in spite o' yer hairy long whuskers, full beards and full skirts, ye deceitful besoms. Whuskers and petticoats wi' the vices o' both and the virtues o' neither. I'll sorrt ye." And there were sounds of alarums and excursions within.
    • 2017 August 27, Brandon Nowalk, “Game Of Thrones slows down for the longest, and best, episode of the season (newbies)”, in The Onion AV Club‎[12]:
      Jaime finally leaves her [Cersei], walking right past his imminent executioner, and rides out of King’s Landing, finally neatly sorting our humans into good and evil and Bronn.
  4. (transitive) To arrange into some sequence, usually numerically, alphabetically or chronologically.
    Synonyms: order, rank
    Sort those bells into a row in ascending sequence of pitch.
  5. (transitive) To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
    • 1635, Francis Bacon, Sylva Sylvarum, Or, A Naturall Historie in Ten Centuries‎[13]:
      Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with insecta.
    • 1599, John Davies, Nosce Teipsum‎[14]:
      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 last,
      These acts her owne, without her body bee.
  6. (transitive, obsolete) To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
    • ca 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI part 2:
      I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience.
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
    • 1616, George Chapman, The Odysseys of Homer‎[15]:
      To send his mother to her father's house, that he may sort her out a worthy spouse
    • ca 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI part 1:
      I'll sort some other time to visit you.
  8. (intransitive) To join or associate with others, especially with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, Of Parents and Children:
      The illiberality of Parents in allowance towards their children is an harmefull error: makes them base; acquaints them with shifts, makes them sort with meane companie; and makes them surfet more, when they come to plenty.
    • 1695, John Woodward, An essay toward a natural history of the earth:
      Nor do Metalls only sort and herd with Metalls in the Earth : and Minerals with Minerals : but both indifferently and in common together: Iron with Vitriol, with Alum, with Sulphur: Copper with Sulphur, with Vitriol, &c. yea Iron, Copper, Lead, Nitre, Sulphur, Vitriol, and perhaps some more in one and the same Mass.
  9. (intransitive) To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
    • 1612, Francis Bacon, Of Nature in Men:
      They are happie men, whose natures sort with their vocations, otherwise they may say Multum incola fuit anima mea; when they converse in those things they doe not affect.
    • 1814, Walter Scott, Waverley:
      I cannot tell ye precisely how they sorted; but they agreed sae right that Donald was invited to dance at the wedding in his Highland trews, and they said that there was never sae meikle siller clinked in his purse either before or since.
  11. (British, colloquial, transitive) To fix (a problem) or handle (a task).
    Synonym: sort out
    • 2024 February 25, Donna Ferguson, “‘Does rewilding sort climate change? Yes!’: UK expert says nature can save planet and not harm farming”, in The Observer‎[16]:
      ‘Does rewilding sort climate change? Yes!’: UK expert says nature can save planet and not harm farming [title]
  12. (British, colloquial, transitive) To attack physically.
    Synonym: sort out
    If he comes nosing around here again I'll sort him!
  13. (transitive) To geld.
Usage notes
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  • In British sense “to fix a problem”, often used in constructions like “I’ll get you sorted” or “Now that’s sorted” – in American and Australian usage sort out is used instead.
Conjugation
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Conjugation of sort
infinitive (to) sort
present tense past tense
1st-person singular sort sorted
2nd-person singular sort, sortest† sorted, sortedst†
3rd-person singular sorts, sorteth† sorted
plural sort
subjunctive sort sorted
imperative sort —
participles sorting sorted

†Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ Samuel Johnson, "A Dictionary of the English Language", [1] publisher=W. G. Jones year=1768

Anagrams

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Catalan

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Etymology

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Inherited from Old Catalan sort, from Latin sors, sortem, from Proto-Italic *sortis, from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“bind”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sort f (uncountable)

  1. luck
    sort amb tot ― good luck with everything
  2. fortune

Derived terms

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References

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Danish

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Etymology 1

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From Old Norse svartr (“black”), from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swerd- (“dirty, dark, black”).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sort

  1. black (color/colour)
  2. under the table; done in secret so as to avoid taxation
Inflection
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Inflection of sort
positive comparative superlative
indefinite common singular sort sortere sortest2
indefinite neuter singular sort sortere sortest2
plural sorte sortere sortest2
definite attributive1 sorte sortere sorteste

1 When an adjective is applied predicatively to something definite,
the corresponding "indefinite" form is used.
2 The "indefinite" superlatives may not be used attributively.

Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • Norwegian Bokmål: sort

Adverb

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sort

  1. under the table; secretly, so as to avoid taxation
Derived terms
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See also

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References

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Etymology 2

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Borrowed from French sorte (“class, kind”), from Latin sors (“lot, fate”).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sort c (singular definite sorten, plural indefinite sorter)

  1. sort, kind
  2. quality
  3. brand
  4. (botany) cultivar
Declension
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Declension of sort
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative sort sorten sorter sorterne
genitive sorts sortens sorters sorternes

References

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Estonian

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Etymology

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From German Sorte.

Noun

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sort (genitive sordi, partitive sorti)

  1. kind, sort, brand

Declension

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Declension of sort (ÕS type 22e/riik, t-d gradation)
singular plural
nominative sort sordid
accusative nom.
gen. sordi
genitive sortide
partitive sorti sorte
sortisid
illative sorti
sordisse 		sortidesse
sordesse
inessive sordis sortides
sordes
elative sordist sortidest
sordest
allative sordile sortidele
sordele
adessive sordil sortidel
sordel
ablative sordilt sortidelt
sordelt
translative sordiks sortideks
sordeks
terminative sordini sortideni
essive sordina sortidena
abessive sordita sortideta
comitative sordiga sortidega

French

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Old French sort, from Latin sortem, from Proto-Italic *sortis, from Proto-Indo-European *ser- (“to bind”). Cf. also the borrowed doublet sorte.

Noun

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sort m (plural sorts)

  1. fate, destiny (consequences or effects predetermined by past events or a divine will)
    Je suis tombé amoureux de lui depuis le premier jour où je l’ai vu. C’était le sort. ― I fell in love with him since the first day I laid eyes on him. It was destiny.
  2. lot (something used in determining a question by chance)
  3. spell (magical incantation)
Usage notes
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Abstract nouns (a noun denoting an idea, quality, or state rather than a concrete object) in French [and other Romance languages] use definite articles prior to the noun—unlike English. I.e. C'était le sort qui nous a réunis = It was fate that brought us together.

Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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See sortir.

Verb

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sort

  1. third-person singular present indicative of sortir

Further reading

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Friulian

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Alternative forms

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  • sord (alternative orthography)

Etymology

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From Latin surdus.

Adjective

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sort

  1. deaf
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See also

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Hungarian

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from English shorts.[1]

Noun

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sort (plural sortok)

  1. shorts (pants worn primarily in the summer that do not go lower than the knees)
Declension
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Inflection (stem in -o-, back harmony)
singular plural
nominative sort sortok
accusative sortot sortokat
dative sortnak sortoknak
instrumental sorttal sortokkal
causal-final sortért sortokért
translative sorttá sortokká
terminative sortig sortokig
essive-formal sortként sortokként
essive-modal — —
inessive sortban sortokban
superessive sorton sortokon
adessive sortnál sortoknál
illative sortba sortokba
sublative sortra sortokra
allative sorthoz sortokhoz
elative sortból sortokból
delative sortról sortokról
ablative sorttól sortoktól
non-attributive
possessive - singular 		sorté sortoké
non-attributive
possessive - plural 		sortéi sortokéi
Possessive forms of sort
possessor single possession multiple possessions
1st person sing. sortom sortjaim
2nd person sing. sortod sortjaid
3rd person sing. sortja sortjai
1st person plural sortunk sortjaink
2nd person plural sortotok sortjaitok
3rd person plural sortjuk sortjaik
Synonyms
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Etymology 2

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sor +‎ -t

Noun

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sort

  1. accusative singular of sor
Derived terms
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References

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  1. ^ sort in Zaicz, Gábor (ed.). Etimológiai szótár: Magyar szavak és toldalékok eredete (‘Dictionary of Etymology: The origin of Hungarian words and affixes’). Budapest: Tinta Könyvkiadó, 2006, →ISBN.  (See also its 2nd edition.)

Icelandic

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Noun

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sort f (genitive singular sortar, nominative plural sortir)

  1. type, kind
    Synonyms: gerð, tegund
  2. (card games) suit

Declension

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Declension of sort (feminine)
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative sort sortin sortir sortirnar
accusative sort sortina sortir sortirnar
dative sort sortinni sortum sortunum
genitive sortar sortarinnar sorta sortanna

Further reading

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Norman

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Etymology

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From Old French sort, from Latin sors, sortem.

Noun

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sort m (plural sorts)

  1. (Jersey) fate

Synonyms

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no
Norwegian Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia no

Etymology 1

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From Danish sort, from Old Danish sort, swort, swart, from Old Norse svartr, from Proto-Germanic *swartaz, from Proto-Indo-European *swordo- (“dirty, dark, black”).

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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sort (neuter singular sort, definite singular and plural sorte, comparative sortere, indefinite plural sortest, definite plural sorteste)

  1. black (color/colour)
  2. illegal; in avoidance of taxes

Etymology 2

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Borrowed from French sorte.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sort m (definite singular sorten, indefinite plural sorter, definite plural sortene)

  1. a sort, kind or type

References

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Norwegian Nynorsk

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sorte.

Noun

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sort m (definite singular sorten, indefinite plural sortar, definite plural sortane)

  1. a sort, kind or type

References

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Plautdietsch

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Noun

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sort f (plural Sorten)

  1. sort, kind, type, ilk, variety

Polish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sorte.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sort m inan

  1. (colloquial) sort (type)
    Synonyms: gatunek, rodzaj

Declension

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Declension of sort
singular plural
nominative sort sorty
genitive sortu sortów
dative sortowi sortom
accusative sort sorty
instrumental sortem sortami
locative sorcie sortach
vocative sorcie sorty

Derived terms

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nouns
verbs
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adjective
noun
noun phrase

Further reading

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  • sort in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
  • sort in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romanian

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sorte.

Noun

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sort n (plural sorturi)

  1. sort, kind, variety

Declension

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singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative-accusative sort sortul sorturi sorturile
genitive-dative sort sortului sorturi sorturilor
vocative sortule sorturilor

Swedish

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Etymology

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Borrowed from French sorte.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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sort c

  1. kind, sort
    Jag vill ha den andra sorten
    I want the other kind
    Vi har tio sorters kakor
    We have ten kinds of cookies
    Det är en sorts protest
    It is a kind of protest
    Vad för sorts fågel är det där?
    What kind of bird is that?

Usage notes

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  • "A/<count> kind(s) of X" is expressed as "en/<count> sort(er)s X," and "what kind(s) of X" as "vad för sorts X."
  • Though traditionally considered incorrect, many native speakers will intuitively let the noun after sorts determine the gender rather than sort, for example saying "ett sorts hus" rather than "en sorts hus". See this question to Språket on Sveriges Radio.

Declension

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Declension of sort
nominative genitive
singular indefinite sort sorts
definite sorten sortens
plural indefinite sorter sorters
definite sorterna sorternas

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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See also

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References

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Anagrams

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