Library / English Dictionary

SORT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

An approximate definition or example

Example:

she served a creamy sort of dessert thing

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("sort" is a kind of...):

similarity (the quality of being similar)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality

Example:

what kinds of desserts are there?

Synonyms:

form; kind; sort; variety

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("sort" is a kind of...):

category (a general concept that marks divisions or coordinations in a conceptual scheme)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "sort"):

like; the like; the likes of (a similar kind)

stripe (a kind or category)

model (a type of product)

manner (a kind)

ilk; like (a kind of person)

genre (a kind of literary or artistic work)

brand; make (a recognizable kind)

genus (a general kind of something)

species (a specific kind of something)

color; colour ((physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction)

flavor; flavour ((physics) the six kinds of quarks)

style (a particular kind (as to appearance))

art form ((architecture) a form of artistic expression (such as writing or painting or architecture))

antitype (an opposite or contrasting type)

type (a subdivision of a particular kind of thing)

description (sort or variety)

Derivation:

sort (arrange or order by classes or categories)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A person of a particular character or nature

Example:

he's a good sort

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("sort" is a kind of...):

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

Sense 4

Meaning:

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

Example:

the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting

Synonyms:

sort; sorting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural processes

Hypernyms ("sort" is a kind of...):

operation ((computer science) data processing in which the result is completely specified by a rule (especially the processing that results from a single instruction))

Derivation:

sort (arrange or order by classes or categories)

sort (examine in order to test suitability)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Arrange or order by classes or categories

Example:

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

Synonyms:

assort; class; classify; separate; sort; sort out

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "sort" is one way to...):

categorise; categorize (place into or assign to a category)

"Sort" entails doing...:

compare (examine and note the similarities or differences of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "sort"):

count; number (put into a group)

grade (determine the grade of or assign a grade to)

group (arrange into a group or groups)

pigeonhole; stamp; stereotype (treat or classify according to a mental stereotype)

dichotomise; dichotomize (divide into two opposing groups or kinds)

size (sort according to size)

reclassify (classify anew, change the previous classification)

refer (think of, regard, or classify under a subsuming principle or with a general group or in relation to another)

isolate (separate (experiences) from the emotions relating to them)

catalog; catalogue (make an itemized list or catalog of; classify)

unitise; unitize (separate or classify into units)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

sort (a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality)

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

sorter (a machine for sorting things (such as punched cards or letters) into classes)

sorter (a clerk who sorts things (as letters at the post office))

sorting (grouping by class or kind or size)

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

Sense 2

Meaning:

Examine in order to test suitability

Example:

screen the job applicants

Synonyms:

screen; screen out; sieve; sort

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "sort" is one way to...):

choose; pick out; select; take (pick out, select, or choose from a number of alternatives)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

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

Credits

 Context examples: 

And then, Mina, I felt a sort of duty to tell him that there was some one.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You'll do nothing of the sort.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

"Nothing of the sort," said the Professor, severely.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The sorting of receptors in the early endosome for degradation requires the tyrosine kinase activity of activated growth factor receptor and involves ubiquitination of the receptor.

(EGF Receptor Downregulation by CBL Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

The CaMKII autophosphorylation involves a kinase cascade of sorts, with each subunit of the multimeric enzyme acting as both kinase and kinase kinase.

(Calmodulin Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This allele, which encodes charged multivesicular body protein 2a, plays a role in the regulation of protein sorting and assembly in the formation of multivesicular bodies.

(CHMP2A wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

A mixture of microscopic particles suspended in some sort of liquid medium.

(Colloid, NCI Thesaurus)

How the long stage would pass; how it was to affect their manners; what was to be their sort of intercourse, she could not foresee.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The teachers looked at her with a sort of surprise.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"Very well, I will give you that sort of courage tomorrow," replied Oz.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)