orientate
verbUK /ˈɒɹi.ənteɪt/
Etymology From orient + -ate or a back-formation from orientation. Compare French orienter and Italian orientare.
1
Commonwealth, Ireland, UK To face a given direction.
2
Commonwealth, Ireland, UK To determine one's position relative to the surroundings; to orient (oneself).
- He[…]stood for a moment, orientating himself exactly in the light of his knowledge.1961, John le Carré, Call for the Dead:
- He came out of the station and took some time to orientate himself.
3
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.
- 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.1848, James Dwight Dana, Manual of Mineralogy:
4
Commonwealth, Ireland, UK To position (something), to align relative to a given position.
- Try to orientate your students towards the science subjects.
5
Archaic To move or turn toward the east; to veer from the north or south toward the east.
- Synonyms
- orient
- Derived terms
- disorientate, misorientate, orientating response, orientative, orientator, reorientate