orient
part of speech
verb (orient, orients, oriented, orienting); noun (the Orient)
meaning for a pupil
1) To find out or work out where you are or which way you are facing, as in "orient yourself with a map". tree →
2) To turn or place something to face a certain way, as in "oriented north". tree →
3) To aim something at a particular group or purpose, as in "a course oriented to beginners". tree →
4) (the Orient, old-fashioned) The countries of East Asia. tree →
sense in the lessons
Used in geography and outdoor education (orienteering, using a compass to orient a map), in maths (orientation of a shape), and in everyday life (a new pupil getting oriented at school). The noun "the Orient" is old-fashioned and now usually replaced by "East Asia" or "Asia".
examples
- Use the compass to orient the map to north. tree →
- It took me a week to orient myself in the new school. tree →
- The house is oriented to face the sun. tree →
- The church is oriented east, as many old churches are. tree →
- The game is oriented towards young children. tree →
- Marco Polo travelled to the Orient. (old-fashioned) tree →
note
UK also uses "orientate" (orientate, orientated) with the same meaning; both are correct. Noun "orientation". "The Orient" and "oriental" sound old-fashioned and can offend when used about people; say "East Asia" or name the country.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «orient» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.