disorient

[dis-awr-ee-ent, -ohr-]

verb (used with object)

1. to cause to lose one's way.

   The strange streets disoriented him.

2. to confuse by removing or obscuring something that has guided a person, group, or culture, as customs, moral standards, etc..

   Society has been disoriented by changing values.

3. Psychiatry.,  to cause to lose perception of time, place, or one's personal identity.

Word History and Origins

Origin of disorient¹

1645–55; < French désorienter, equivalent to dés- dis- ¹ + orienter to orient

Example Sentences

If that seems disorienting, well then, the Philippous’ work here is done.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

It was still dark, and I was disoriented.

Read more on Salon

The Hunter's Return, he said, is "an instant-classic contemporary history painting that perfectly expresses the dark, disoriented zeitgeist of our age of perma-conflict".

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Just one month ago, on Aug. 16, a 50-year-old man fell to his death after becoming disoriented while descending the Clear Creek Trail during a summer snowstorm.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Authorities say the occupants became disoriented due to rapid smoke spread and lack of clear evacuation guidance, and desperate occupants broke windows to jump, leading to severe trauma.

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Related Words

• amaze 
• astonish 
• baffle 
• befuddle 
• bemuse 
• complicate 
• confound 
• daze 
• demoralize 
• disconcert 
• distract 
• embarrass 
• fluster 
• frustrate 
• involve 
• misinform 
• mislead 
• mortify 
• muddle 
• mystify