orientate

English edit

Etymology edit

Pronunciation edit

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɒɹi.ənteɪt/
Audio (Southern England) (file)

Verb edit

orientate (third-person singular simple present orientates, present participle orientating, simple past and past participle orientated)

(UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, intransitive) To face a given direction.
(UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, reflexive) To determine one's position relative to the surroundings; to orient (oneself).
- 1961, John le Carré, Call for the Dead:
  He […] stood for a moment, orientating himself exactly in the light of his knowledge.
He came out of the station and took some time to orientate himself.
To arrange in order; to dispose or place (a body) so as to show its relation to other bodies, or the relation of its parts among themselves.
- 1848, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Mineralogy:
  The one preferred is to make the dominant forms first order, that is, orientated in such a way as to intersect both horizontal crystallographic axes.
(UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, transitive) To position (something), to align relative to a given position.
Try to orientate your students towards the science subjects.
(archaic) To move or turn toward the east; to veer from the north or south toward the east.