orientate

Orientate is a verb with several related meanings centered on direction and familiarity. Primarily, it means to determine or establish the position or direction of something, or to align or position something relative to a reference point. It can also mean to familiarise someone with a new environment, system, or situation, i.e., to provide orientation.

Usage varies by dialect. In British English, orientate is commonly used and widely understood in its senses of determining direction, aligning, or familiarising. In American English, the preferred verb is usually orient, and orientate is less common; some style guides regard it as redundant or less preferred, though still recognized as valid in many contexts. In technical or formal writing, orient can be favored for conciseness, while orientate may appear in training programs or manuals describing processes that involve both orientation and alignment.

Etymology traces orientate to the same root as orient and orientation, from Latin oriens meaning rising or east, with the -ate suffix forming a verb in English. The noun orientation and the adjective oriental share the same root.

Typical contexts include giving someone spatial directions, aligning equipment or maps, or introducing newcomers to a site or organization. For example, one might orientate a new employee to company policies, orientate a map to true north, or orientate a person to local customs.

See also: orientation, orient, orienting.