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orientate

[awr-ee-uh n-teyt, -en-, ohr-]
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verb (used with or without object), o·ri·en·tat·ed, o·ri·en·tat·ing. Chiefly British.
  1. orient(defs 4–12).
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Origin of orientate

1840–50; < French orient(er) “to orient” + -ate1
Related formsre·o·ri·en·tate, verb (used with object), re·o·ri·en·tat·ed, re·o·ri·en·tat·ing.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for orientate

Historical Examples

  • Inquiry at the information-desk helped her to orientate herself.

    Find the Woman

    Arthur Somers Roche

  • He was just beginning to orientate himself and to feel that he was not wholly an intruder.

    Martin Eden

    Jack London

  • It took him but a moment to orientate himself, and presently rohorse and riders were headed in the direction of the highway.

    A Knyght Ther Was

    Robert F. Young

  • Exhausted by his efforts, he gained the edge of the pool at last, and stopped, trying to orientate himself.

  • But it is necessary to orientate oneself very carefully in the East.

    In Mesopotamia

    Martin Swayne

British Dictionary definitions for orientate

orientate

verb
  1. a variant of orient
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for orientate

v.

1849, back-formation from orientation. Related: Orientated; orientating.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
orientate in Medicine

orientate

(ôr′ē-ən-tāt′)
v.
  1. To orient.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.