Sort and Instance

sort

A category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality.
- usage: "sculpture is a form of art"; "what kinds of desserts are there"
- synonyms: kind, form, variety
An approximate definition or example.
- usage: "she wore a sort of magenta dress"; "she served a creamy sort of dessert thing"
A person of a particular character or nature.
- usage: "what sort of person is he"; "he's a good sort"
An operation that segregates items into groups according to a specified criterion.
- usage: "the bottleneck in mail delivery is the process of sorting"
- synonyms: sorting

Examine in order to test suitability.
- usage: "screen these samples"; "screen the job applicants"
- synonyms: screen, screen out, sieve
Arrange or order by classes or categories.
- usage: "How would you classify these pottery shards-are they prehistoric"
- synonyms: classify, class, assort, sort out, separate

(v.t.) To reduce to order from a confused state.
(v.t.) To choose from a number; to select; to cull.
(n.) 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.
(v.t.) To conjoin; to put together in distribution; to class.
(n.) A pair; a set; a suit.
(n.) Condition above the vulgar; rank.
(v.t.) 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.
(v.t.) To conform; to adapt; to accommodate.
(n.) A chance group; a company of persons who happen to be together; a troop; also, an assemblage of animals.
(v.i.) To join or associate with others, especially with others of the same kind or species; to agree.
(n.) Manner; form of being or acting.
(v.i.) To suit; to fit; to be in accord; to harmonize.
(n.) Letters, figures, points, marks, spaces or quadrats, belonging to a case, separately considered.
(n.) Chance; lot; destiny.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

instance

An occurrence of something.
- usage: "it was a case of bad judgment"; "another instance occurred yesterday"; "but there is always the famous example of the Smiths"
- synonyms: case, example
An item of information that is typical of a class or group.
- usage: "this patient provides a typical example of the syndrome"; "there is an example on page 10"
- synonyms: example, illustration, representative

(n.) That which is instant or urgent; motive.
(n.) That which offers itself or is offered as an illustrative case; something cited in proof or exemplification; a case occurring; an example.
(n.) Occasion; order of occurrence.
(n.) The act or quality of being instant or pressing; urgency; solicitation; application; suggestion; motion.
(v.t.) To mention as a case or example; to refer to; to cite; as, to instance a fact.
(n.) A token; a sign; a symptom or indication.
(v.i.) To give an example.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary