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6 ADJ If you feel sorry for someone who is unhappy or in an unpleasant situation, you feel sympathy and sadness for them. □ [+ for ] I felt sorry for him and his colleagues–it must have been so frustrating for them. □ [+ for ] I am very sorry for the family.

7 ADJ You say that someone is feeling sorry for themselves when you disapprove of the fact that they keep thinking unhappily about their problems, rather than trying to be cheerful and positive. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ [+ for ] What he must not do is to sit around at home feeling sorry for himself.

8 CONVENTION You say ' Sorry? ' when you have not heard something that someone has said and you want them to repeat it. [FORMULAE ]

9 CONVENTION You use sorry when you correct yourself and use different words to say what you have just said, especially when what you say the second time does not use the words you would normally choose to use. □  Barcelona will be hoping to bring the trophy back to Spain–sorry, Catalonia–for the first time.

10 ADJ [ADJ n] If someone or something is in a sorry state, they are in a bad state, mentally or physically. □  The fire left Kuwait's oil industry in a sorry state.

11better safe than sorry → see safe

sort ◆◆◆ /sɔː ^r t/ (sorts , sorting , sorted )

1 N‑COUNT If you talk about a particular sort of something, you are talking about a class of things that have particular features in common and that belong to a larger group of related things. □ [+ of ] What sort of school did you go to? □ [+ of ] There are so many different sorts of mushrooms available these days. □ [+ of ] He had a nice, serious sort of smile. □ [+ of ] That's just the sort of abuse that he will be investigating. □  Eddie was playing a game of some sort.

2 N‑SING You describe someone as a particular sort when you are describing their character. □  He seemed to be just the right sort for the job. □ [+ of ] She was a very vigorous sort of person. □ [+ of ] What sort of men were they?

3 VERB If you sort things, you separate them into different classes, groups, or places, for example so that you can do different things with them. □ [be V -ed + into ] The students are sorted into three ability groups. □ [V + through ] He unlatched the box and sorted through the papers. □ [V n] I sorted the laundry.

4 VERB [usu passive] If you get a problem or the details of something sorted , you do what is necessary to solve the problem or organize the details. [INFORMAL ] □ [get V -ed] I'm trying to get my script sorted.

5 PHRASE All sorts of things or people means a large number of different things or people. □  There are all sorts of animals, including bears, kangaroos, and penguins. □  Self-help groups of all sorts have been running for more than 20 years.

6 PHRASE If you describe something as a thing of sorts or as a thing of a sort , you are suggesting that the thing is of a rather poor quality or standard. □  He made a living of sorts selling pancakes from a van.

7 PHRASE You use sort of when you want to say that your description of something is not very accurate. [INFORMAL , VAGUENESS ] □  You could even order windows from a catalogue–a sort of mail order stained glass service.

8to sort the wheat from the chaff → see chaff

9nothing of the sort → see nothing

▸  sort out