1.  sort(n = noun.cognition) form, kind, variety - a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality; "sculpture is a form of art"; "what kinds of desserts are there?"
is a kind of category
has particulars: description, type, antitype, art form, style, flavor, flavour, color, colour, species, genus, brand, make, genre, ilk, like, manner, model, stripe, like, the like, the likes of
Derived form verb sort₂

2.  sort(n = noun.attribute) - an approximate definition or example; "she wore a sort of magenta dress"; "she served a creamy sort of dessert thing"
is a kind of similarity

3.  sort(n = noun.person) - a person of a particular character or nature; "what sort of person is he?"; "he's a good sort"
is a kind of individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul

4.  sort(n = noun.process) sorting - an operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion; "the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting"
is a kind of operation
Derived forms verb sort₂, verb sort₁

1.  sort(v = verb.social) screen, screen out, sieve - examine in order to test suitability; "screen these samples"; "screen the job applicants"
is one way to choose, pick out, select, take
Derived form noun sort₄
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s somebody; Something ----s somebody; Something ----s something

2.  sort(v = verb.cognition) assort, class, classify, separate, sort out - arrange or order by classes or categories; "How would you classify these pottery shards--are they prehistoric?"
is one way to categorise, categorize
Derived forms noun sort₁, noun sort₄, noun sorter₂, noun sorter₁, noun sorting₃, noun sorting₁
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something; Somebody ----s somebody

   Chance; lot; destiny. [1913 Webster]
"By aventure, or sort, or cas [chance]." [1913 Webster]
"Let blockish Ajax draw
The sort to fight with Hector." [1913 Webster]

1.  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. [1913 Webster]

2.  Manner; form of being or acting. [1913 Webster]
"Which for my part I covet to perform,
In sort as through the world I did proclaim." [1913 Webster]
"Flowers, in such sort worn, can neither be smelt nor seen well by those that wear them." [1913 Webster]
"I'll deceive you in another sort." [1913 Webster]
"To Adam in what sort
Shall I appear?" [1913 Webster]
"I shall not be wholly without praise, if in some sort I have copied his style." [1913 Webster]

3.  Condition above the vulgar; rank. Shak. [1913 Webster]

4.  A chance group; a company of persons who happen to be together; a troop; also, an assemblage of animals. [1913 Webster]
"A boy, a child, and we a sort of us,
Vowed against his voyage." [1913 Webster]

5.  A pair; a set; a suit. Johnson. [1913 Webster]

6.  Letters, figures, points, marks, spaces, or quadrats, belonging to a case, separately considered. [1913 Webster]
"As when the total kind
Of birds, in orderly array on wing,
Came summoned over Eden to receive
Their names of there." [1913 Webster]
"None of noble sort
Would so offend a virgin." [1913 Webster]

1.  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. [1913 Webster]
"Rays which differ in refrangibility may be parted and sorted from one another." [1913 Webster]

2.  To reduce to order from a confused state. Hooker. [1913 Webster]

3.  To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class. [1913 Webster]
"Shellfish have been, by some of the ancients, compared and sorted with insects." [1913 Webster]
"She sorts things present with things past." [1913 Webster]

4.  To choose from a number; to select; to cull. [1913 Webster]
"That he may sort out a worthy spouse." [1913 Webster]
"I'll sort some other time to visit you." [1913 Webster]

5.  To conform; to adapt; to accommodate. [1913 Webster]
"I pray thee, sort thy heart to patience." [1913 Webster]

1.  To join or associate with others, esp. with others of the same kind or species; to agree. [1913 Webster]
"Nor do metals only sort and herd with metals in the earth, and minerals with minerals." [1913 Webster]
"The illiberality of parents towards children makes them base, and sort with any company." [1913 Webster]

2.  To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize. [1913 Webster]
"They are happy whose natures sort with their vocations." [1913 Webster]
"Things sort not to my will." [1913 Webster]
"I can not tell you precisely how they sorted." [1913 Webster]

sort, n. & v.
--n.
1 a group of things etc. with common attributes; a class or kind.
2 (foll. by of) roughly of the kind specified (is some sort of doctor).
3 colloq. a person of a specified character or kind (a good sort).
4 Printing a letter or piece in a fount of type.
5 Computing the arrangement of data in a prescribed sequence.
6 archaic a manner or way.
--v.tr. (often foll. by out, over) arrange systematically or according to type, class, etc.

Idiom:
after a sort after a fashion. in some sort to a certain extent. of a sort (or of sorts) colloq. not fully deserving the name (a holiday of sorts). out of sorts 1 slightly unwell.
2 in low spirits; irritable. sort of colloq. as it were; to some extent (I sort of expected it). sort out 1 separate into sorts.
2 select (things of one or more sorts) from a miscellaneous group.
3 disentangle or put into order.
4 resolve (a problem or difficulty).
5 colloq. deal with or reprimand (a person).

Derivative:
sortable adj. sorter n. sorting n.

Etymology:
ME f. OF sorte ult. f. L sors sortis lot, condition

N  degree, grade, extent, measure, amount, ratio, stint, standard, height, pitch, reach, amplitude, range, scope, caliber, gradation, shade, tenor, compass, sphere, station, rank, standing, rate, way, sort, point, mark, stage, intensity, strength, comparative, gradual, shading off, within the bounds, by degrees, gradually, inasmuch, pro tanto, however, howsoever, step by step, bit by bit, little by little, inch by inch, drop by drop, a little at a time, by inches, by slow degrees, by degrees, by little and little, in some degree, in some measure, to some extent, di grado in grado.

VB  reduce to order, bring into order, introduce order into, rally, arrange, dispose, place, form, put in order, set in order, place in order, set out, collocate, pack, marshal, range, size, rank, group, parcel out, allot, distribute, deal, cast the parts, assign the parts, dispose of, assign places to, assort, sort, sift, riddle, put to rights, set to rights, put into shape, put in trim, put in array, apportion, class, classify, divide, file, string together, thread, register, catalogue, tabulate, index, graduate, digest, grade, methodize, regulate, systematize, coordinate, organize, settle, fix, unravel, disentangle, ravel, card, disembroil, feaze.

VB  follow in a series, form a series, fall in, arrange in a series, collate, string together, file, thread, graduate, organize, sort, tabulate.

N  class, division, category, categorema, head, order, section, department, subdepartment, province, domain, kind, sort, genus, species, variety, family, order, kingdom, race, tribe, caste, sept, clan, breed, type, subtype, kit, sect, set, subset, assortment, feather, kidney, suit, range, gender, sex, kin, manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament, indication, particularization, selection, specification, similarity.

VB  list, itemize, sort, collate, enumerate, tabulate, catalog, tally.

right sort, sort of, sort out, sort program