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Shellsort.

A sorting algorithm that starts by sorting pairs of elements that are far apart from each other, then progressively reduces the gap between elements to be compared.

9 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun
  1. A sorting algorithm that starts by sorting pairs of elements that are far apart from each other, then progressively reduces the gap between elements to be compared.

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

From Shell + sort, after Douglas Shell, who published the first version in 1959.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.