kind of

kind¹

K0063700 (kīnd)adj. kind·er, kind·est 1. Having or showing a friendly, generous, sympathetic, or warm-hearted nature.2. Agreeable or beneficial: a dry climate kind to asthmatics.

[Middle English kinde, natural, kind, from Old English gecynde, natural; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]Synonyms: kind¹, kindly, kindhearted, benign, benevolent
These adjectives mean having or showing a tender, considerate, and helping nature. Kind and kindly are the least specific: thanked her for her kind letter; a kindly gentleman. Kindhearted especially suggests an innately kind disposition: a kindhearted teacher. Benign implies gentleness and mildness: benign intentions; a benign sovereign. Benevolent suggests charitableness and a desire to promote the welfare or happiness of others: a benevolent contributor.

kind²

K0063700 (kīnd)n.1. a. A group of individuals or instances sharing common traits; a category or sort: different kinds of furniture; a new kind of politics.b. A doubtful or borderline member of a given category: fashioned a kind of shelter; a kind of bluish color.2. Archaic a. Underlying character as a determinant of the class to which a thing belongs; nature or essence.b. The natural order or course of things; nature.c. Manner or fashion.3. Obsolete a. Lineal ancestry or descent.b. Lineal ancestors or descendants considered as a group.Idioms: all kinds of Informal Plenty of; ample: We have all kinds of time to finish the job. in kind1. With produce or commodities rather than with money: pay in kind.2. In the same manner or with an equivalent: returned the slight in kind. kind of Informal Rather; somewhat: I'm kind of hungry. of a kind Of the same kind; alike: My father and my uncle are two of a kind.

[Middle English, from Old English gecynd, race, offspring, kind; see genə- in Indo-European roots.]Usage Note: The words kind, sort, and type can be troublesome when they are used with plural nouns and modifiers. Sentences like I hate these kind of movies may occur with some frequency but are awkward, and some would say, grammatically incorrect. The Usage Panel frowns upon these usages. In our 2005 survey, 81 percent rejected the use of kind with a plural modifier and plural noun in the sentence Those kind of buildings seem old-fashioned. Fully 88 percent of the Panel found unacceptable the use of kind with a singular modifier and plural noun and verb in That kind of buildings seem old fashioned. In these examples kind would presumably function as a determiner like number in A great number of people have crowded into the lobby. (Note that number here is singular, but the plural verb have agrees with the plural noun people, so number is not really the subject of the sentence). This problem can be avoided by making the phrase entirely singular (as in That kind of movie is always enjoyable) or by revising so that the noun is the plural subject (as in Movies of that kind are always enjoyable). Bear in mind that plural kinds often implies that the phrase refers to a number of different categories of things—more than one genre of movie, for example. Perhaps the best solution is to drop the kind phrase entirely (Those movies are always enjoyable) or to be specific (Those spy movies are always enjoyable).

sort of

kind of

In conversation and in less formal writing, people use sort of or kind of in front of a noun to say that something could be described as being a particular thing.

It's a sort of dictionary of dictionaries.I'm a kind of anarchist, I suppose.

People also use sort of or kind of in front of adjectives, verbs, and other types of word to mean 'a little' or 'in some way', or with very little meaning.

I felt kind of sorry for him.I've sort of heard of him, but I don't know who he is.

Thesaurus

Adv.

kind of - to some (great or small) extent; "it was rather cold"; "the party was rather nice"; "the knife is rather dull"; "I rather regret that I cannot attend"; "He's rather good at playing the cello"; "he is kind of shy"kinda, sort of, rather

Translations

piuttosto

kind of

Somewhat; sort of; a little. I'm happy that it's summertime, but I'm still kind of disappointed that school is over. A: "Are you feeling better?" B: "Kind of. My throat isn't sore anymore but I'm still congested."See also: kind, of

kind of

Also, sort of. Rather, somewhat, as in I'm kind of hungry, or The bird looked sort of like a sparrow. [Colloquial; c. 1800] This usage should not be confused with a kind of or a sort of, which are much older and refer to a borderline member of a given category (as in a kind of a shelter or a sort of a bluish color). Shakespeare had this usage in Two Gentlemen of Verona (3:1): "My master is a kind of a knave." Also see of a kind. See also: kind, of

ˈkind of/ˈsort of

(informal) used with adjectives, adverbs and verbs when something is difficult to describe or when the word you use is not exactly what you mean: She kind of smiled at me. ♢ My new dress is sort of green. ♢ He said it sort of nervously.These phrases are sometimes written or spoken as kinda or sorta.See also: kind, of, sort

kind of

Informal Rather; somewhat: I'm kind of hungry.See also: kind, of

kind of

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kind²

sort of

kind of

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kind of

ˈkind of/ˈsort of

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Synonyms for kind of

adv to some (great or small) extent

Synonyms

kind of

kind 1

kind 2

sort of

kind of

kind of

kind of

ˈkind of/ˈsort of

kind of

kind of

Synonyms for kind of

adv to some (great or small) extent

Synonyms

kind¹

kind²