Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

out of sorts

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.21 in modern English

Syllables: out- of -sorts
IPA

13

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Irritable or somewhat unwell, with vague medical symptoms.

adj

With some letters or sorts of type deficient or exhausted in the case or font.

Dated

Example Sentences

"[T]he trooper fails to fasten the brooch. His hand shakes, he is nervous, and it falls off. "Would any one believe this?" says he, catching it as it drops and looking round. "I am so out of sorts that I bungle at an easy job like this!""
""My lads," said he, "we've had a hot day and are all tired and out of sorts.""
"Carlo Ancelotti's out-of-sorts team struggled to hit the target in the first half as Bolton threatened with Matthew Taylor lashing just wide."

Etymology

Comes from printing terminology where "sort" means a metal type for printing a particular letter.

Usage

Dated

Inflected Forms

more out of sorts (comparative) most out of sorts (superlative)

Phrases

out of spirits

Frequently Paired Words

out of spirits

Synonyms

out of order

Questions

What does out of sorts mean?: Irritable or somewhat unwell, with vague medical symptoms.
Where does out of sorts come from?: Comes from printing terminology where "sort" means a metal type for printing a particular letter.

How to pronounce out of sorts

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “out of sorts”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “out of sorts”.
Repeat and practice — Say “out of sorts” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.