sorta

A written form of a reduction of sort of.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔːtə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈsɔɹtə/, [-ɾə]
• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)tə

sorta (not comparable)

1. (informal) Contraction of sort of.

   Synonyms: kinda, kinda sorta, sorta kinda

   The portraits on the wall aren’t that good, but they’re just sorta cool to have around.

   • 1912 September, Charles Alden Seltzer, “Love’s International”, in The Outing Magazine: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction, volume LX, number 6, New York, N.Y.; Chicago, Ill.: Outing Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 680, column 1:

     'Webb,' he says sorta sorrowful like, 'it looks like a howlin' shame to have a bang-up American girl hooked up to a money-grubbin' member of the British nobility. It don't in no way fit in with my ideas of the speerut of American independence!'

   • 1993 July, William R. Scott, “Sort of a Hero”, in Scott Stuckey, editor, Boys’ Life, volume LXXXIII, number 7, Irving, Tex.: Boy Scouts of America, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 34, column 2:

     When Tommy's folks heard about it they were angry with him, and with Chuck for using him to play such a mean trick on Vern. In fact the whole thing sorta backfired on old Chuck—and on me and Pete too. Instead of laughing about it, most people thought it was pretty crummy.

sorta (plural sortsa)

1. (informal) Sort of.

   There’s gotta be some sorta explanation.

   • 2001, Lawrence A. Wenzel, The Sandcastle at High Tide, page 97:

     He glanced at her then back at me. "What sorta research?" / "Well, war correspondent might not be too far off," I said.

• Astor, Astro, Roats, Sarot, Troas, artos, astro, astro-, ratos, roast, rotas, taros, tarso-

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔr̥ta/
• Rhymes: -ɔr̥ta

sorta f (genitive singular sortu, nominative plural sortur)

1. black dye

• sortulyng (“common bearberry, Arctostaphylos uva-ursi”)

• sorti (“darkness; dark weather”)
• sortna (“to darken”)
• svartur (“black”)

Borrowed from French sorte, from Latin sortem.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔr.ta/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔrta
• Hyphenation: sòr‧ta

sorta f (plural sorte)

1. sort, type, kind

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɔr.ta/^[1]
• Rhymes: -ɔrta
• Hyphenation: sòr‧ta

sorta

1. inflection of sortire:
   1. first/second/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

• IPA^(key): /ˈsor.ta/, /ˈsɔr.ta/^[1]
• Rhymes: -orta, -ɔrta
• Hyphenation: sór‧ta, sòr‧ta

sorta f sg

1. feminine singular of sorto

• -astro, Tarso, astro, astro-, rosta, sarto, staro, starò, tarso

Borrowed from German sortieren.

• IPA^(key): /sorˈta/

a sorta (third-person singular present sortează, past participle sortat) 1st conjugation

1. to sort

• sortator

• “sorta”, in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language) (in Romanian), 2004–2025

Borrowed from German Sorte and/or Italian sorta; all eventually from Latin sors. See English sort for more.

sȏrta f (Cyrillic spelling со̑рта)

1. sort, kind

From Proto-Finnic *sortadak.

sorta

1. to bring down, to knock down
2. to cut down, to chop down, to fell
3. to drop (by accident)

• Zajceva, N. G., Mullonen, M. I. (2007) “валить, ронять, сбивать, уронить”, in Uz’ venä-vepsläine vajehnik / Novyj russko-vepsskij slovarʹ [New Russian–Veps Dictionary]‎^[1], Petrozavodsk: Periodika