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

Dolphins usually beach themselves when sick, injured, or disoriented, and most do not survive.

Read more on Science Daily

Russian President Vladimir Putin has used similar methods to disorient and pacify the Russian public.

Read more on Salon

They suggest that, much like humans with dementia who sometimes wander away from familiar places, dolphins might also become disoriented due to a form of Alzheimer's-like disease.

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Within hours of arriving in Venice, he begins to suspect that the city itself, with its disorienting streets and shady denizens, is somehow in cahoots with his sphinxlike wife to betray him.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

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

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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