different between assort vs unsort

English

Etymology

Middle French assortir

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??s??t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /??s??t/
• Rhymes: -??(?)t

Verb

assort (third-person singular simple present assorts, present participle assorting, simple past and past participle assorted)

1. (transitive) To sort or arrange according to characteristic or class.
   • 1790, Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France

     They appear […] no way assorted to those with whom they must associate.

2. (intransitive) To be of a kind with.
3. (intransitive) To be associated with; to consort with.
4. (transitive) To furnish with, or make up of, various sorts or a variety of goods.

   to assort a cargo

Derived terms

• assortation
• assortative

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Astors, Astros, roasts, sortsa

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.s??/

Verb

assort

1. third-person singular present indicative of assortir

English

Etymology

un- +? sort, apparently by confusion of unravel, untangle or similar and sort.

Verb

unsort (third-person singular simple present unsorts, present participle unsorting, simple past and past participle unsorted)

1. (transitive, nonstandard) To sort out; to resolve.
   • 2003, Edwin S. Gaustad, Mark A. Noll, A Documentary History of Religion in America to 1877 (page 54)

     In his letter to Virginia's governor excerpted below, Rolfe tries to unsort the mixture of motives that led to his decision to marry Pocahantas.

   • 2008, Susan McGeown, Call Me Elle (page 48)

     I try to unsort this big tangle of things that all of a sudden I've tripped over.

2. (computing) To shuffle a data structure so that it is no longer sorted.

Anagrams

• Ruston, tornus, tourns