disorient

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

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR disorient ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

to cause to lose one's way: The strange streets disoriented him.

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.

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

Origin of disorient

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for disorient

disturb, complicate, discombobulate, befuddle, perturb, clutter, derange, fluster, dumbfound, bewilder, puzzle, muddle, distract, baffle, daze, stupefy, intoxicate, disorient, perplex, impair

Examples from the Web for disorient

Contemporary Examples of disorient

All this artful excess seems intended to disorient and disinhibit guests descending from the busy theater district above.
Interactive Play ‘Queen of the Night’ Opens at Restored Diamond Horseshoe Club
Brian Spitulnik
December 31, 2013

Word Origin and History for disorient

1650s, from French désorienter "to cause to lose one's bearings," literally "to turn from the east," from dés- (see dis-) + orienter (see orient (v.)). Related: Disoriented; disorienting.