kind of

kind of

Somewhat; partially. I'm happy that it's summertime, but I'm still kind of sad that school is over. A: "Are you feeling better?" B: "Kind of. My throat isn't sore anymore, but I'm still pretty congested."
See also: kind, of
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

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
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

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
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

kind of

Informal
Rather; somewhat: I'm kind of hungry.
See also: kind, of
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition.
See also:
  • be more than (something)
  • be more than glad, ready, etc.
  • (the) odds are against (something)
  • be at a disadvantage
  • at a disadvantage
  • address (one's) comments to (someone or something)
  • address comments or remarks to
  • address (one's) remarks to (someone or something)
  • be in it for
  • away from it all
References in periodicals archive
As I demonstrate below, the kind of four-footed live-bearers and the kind of four-footed egg-layers do play a conspicuous role in the organization of explanations in Aristotle's biological treatises.
[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] and division in Aristotle's Generation of Animals
Any kind of interest in any kind of property.* See 760 ILCS 20/1 through 20/24.
Reference 1
She's the kind of mother who kept up her grieving widow act on Christmasses and Sunday lunches as they looked at their dad's empty seat at the head of the table.
No kind of mother
When we start putting the music together, it then kind of dictates whom you work with.
Damian Marley
What kind of support did you have through that process?
Rev. Timothy McDonald: the progressive minister advocates gay rights, but not marriage
The word capital was an intellectual version of wood pulp--assets are all mashed together into a kind of paste.
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Now in its 20th year, Magnusson Architecture concentrates on the kind of work many architects shy away from: affordable housing, hospitals and schools and community master planning.
Flexible team helping to bend and shape New York City
Only in some kind of a bottom-up way are we going to address these issues.
Who's afraid of human enhancement? A reason debate on the promise, perils, and ethics of human biotechnology
As a result, entries considering the virtues and vices of globalization brimmed with asides like, "We have arrived at a very important point in the discussion, I think, but the pilot has instructed us to turn off all electronic devices, so I must say goodbye for now." Editorial miscalculation number one: Taking the conversation too seriously, we removed these telling passages, which would have offered a kind of absurd truth about the art world and, more generally, about fundamentally changed modes of "communication."
Editor's letter
It said you have to be 16 and you have to be of oriental appearance and you have to be British, and that kind of fitted me.
Emma ... Hermione ... same girl? Will you ever look at actress Emma Watson and not see Hermione Granger? Someday. But right now, Emma is all abut playing Harry Potter's super-smart sidekick
This idea appealed to me because I did not want students to believe that the Gothic offers any kind of paint-by-numbers formula that relies mostly on the color of blood.
Entertaining monsters: teaching the Gothic novel
Mee (who also wrote Clarke's best-known work, Vienna: Lusthaus) and music-hall songs of the period, is a kind of Lautrec poster come to life--cabaret performances interspersed with episodes from the artist's absinthe-fueled debauches.
A voluptuous breakthrough: Rebecca Wender glows in Martha Clarke's phantasmagoria, Belle Epoque
Embryonic stem cells are "incredibly more powerful" he claimed, in that they can give rise to every other kind of cell, and therefore are highly useful to fight cancer.
Stem cell research: some guidelines
More than anything else, I made this movie to denounce the kind of education I--and generations of Spaniards--received.
Holy terror: Pedro Almodovar talks about Catholicism, the thrill of the "prohibited," and the Bad Education of an entire generation
What kind of people is this who celebrate their king by reading together the story of his violent and humiliating death at the hands of an enemy state?
The Reign of Christ: November 21, 2004