sorta

1. 1
   contractioncolloquialcontraction

   To some extent or in a way, but not completely or precisely.

   She's sorta my best friend, even though we only met last year.

   I sorta agree with your plan, but I still have a few doubts.

   Similarkinda

   Note

   Here the "of" belongs to the noun: sort keeps its meaning of "kind" or "type", as in some sorta explanation or What sorta research? A noun always follows, and the phrase names or asks what type something is. It is easy to confuse with the hedging adverb, which softens a verb or adjective instead. A quick test: if "type of" fits in its place, it is this use.

2. 2
   adverbcolloquialabbreviationcontraction

   Contraction of sort of.

   The plan sorta worked, though not exactly the way we hoped.

   I sorta remember meeting her at the party last spring.

   Note

   A spelling that writes down how sort of sounds in quick speech, with the two words run together into one. As an adverb it hedges, softening a verb or adjective to "to some extent": sorta cool, sorta backfired. Charles Alden Seltzer's dialogue in The Outing Magazine (1912) already has a speaker saying it "sorta sorrowful like". Keep it for casual writing and reported speech; in formal prose, sort of or somewhat is safer.

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