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Sorta vs Sortal - What's the difference?

sorta | sortal |

As an adverb sorta

is (informal) sort of; somewhat; not quite.

As a contraction sorta

is (colloquial) sort of.

As an adjective sortal is

(philosophy) of or pertaining to a sort.

As a noun sortal is

(philosophy) a type of universal that defines a particular sort of object.

sorta

English

Adverb

(-)
  • (informal) Sort of; somewhat; not quite.
    • The portraits on the wall aren't so useful, just sorta cool to have around
  • * 1912 , Caspar Whitney, Albert Britt, Outing: Sport, Adventure, Travel, Fiction , Volume 60, page 680,
    • '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. '
  • * 1993 July, Sort of a Hero'', in '' , page 34,
    • 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.

    Synonyms

    * kinda

    Contraction

  • (colloquial) 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.

    Anagrams

    * English contractions English non-constituents ----

    sortal

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (philosophy) Of or pertaining to a sort
  • * {{quote-book, 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, section=, chapter=Chapter III: Of General Terms
    • , passage=But, it being evident that things are ranked under names into sorts or species, only as they agree to certain abstract ideas, to which we have annexed those names, the essence of each genus, or sort, comes to be nothing but that abstract idea which the general, or sortal (if I may have leave so to call it from sort, as I do general from genus), name stands for.}}
  • (philosophy) Having the character of a
  • * {{quote-journal, 2008, date=January 8, John E. Sarnecki, Sortals for Dummies, Erkenntnis, url=, doi=10.1007/s10670-007-9094-6, volume=69, issue=2, pages=
    • , passage=The possession of sortal concepts is a prerequisite for philosophers like Wiggins or Lowe in determining the nature and extent of our referential capacities. }}

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (philosophy) A type of universal that defines a particular sort of object
  • * {{quote-book, 1974, , Subject and Predicate in Logic and Grammar, isbn=0416821901, page=135, pageurl=http://books.google.com/books?id=qX8OAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA135
    • , passage=And central to this notion is the distinction, among semantic types of g -words, between sortals on the one hand and non-sortal general-character-specifiers on the other}}

    Derived terms

    * sortalist * sortalism * sortalize * nonsortal

    See also

    * Sortals in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Anagrams

    *