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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

Related Words

conform, align, adjust, adapt, compare, associate, pertain, ascribe, link, connect, affect, apply, concern, assign, refer, locate, direct, acclimatize, turn, determine

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.