sort (n.)

  1. a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality; sculpture is a form of art; what kinds of desserts are there?

    [ Syn: kind , form , variety ]

  2. an approximate definition or example; she wore a sort of magenta dress; she served a creamy sort of dessert thing'

  3. a person of a particular character or nature; what sort of person is he?; he's a good sort'

  4. an operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion; the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting

    [ Syn: sorting ]

    sort (v.)

  1. examine in order to test suitability; screen these samples; screen the job applicants

    [ Syn: screen , screen out , sieve ]

  2. arrange or order by classes or categories; How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?

    [ Syn: classify , class , assort , sort out , separate ]

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.