What is a synonym for "orientate"?

Common synonyms include: orient, orient, acclimate, accommodate, adapt, adjust.

How do you pronounce "orientate"?

Pronounced //ˈɒɹi.ənteɪt//.

//ˈɒɹi.ənteɪt// verb

verb ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Verb

1
To face a given direction. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, intransitive
2
determine one's position with reference to another point wordnet
3
To determine one's position relative to the surroundings; to orient (oneself). Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, reflexive
"He[…]stood for a moment, orientating himself exactly in the light of his knowledge."
4
To arrange in order; to dispose or place (a body) so as to show its relation to other bodies, or the relation of its parts among themselves.
"The one preferred is to make the dominant forms first order, that is, orientated in such a way as to intersect both horizontal crystallographic axes."
5
To position (something), to align relative to a given position. Commonwealth, Ireland, UK, transitive
"Try to orientate your students towards the science subjects."

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6
To move or turn toward the east; to veer from the north or south toward the east. archaic

"He[…]stood for a moment, orientating himself exactly in the light of his knowledge."

From orient + -ate or a back-formation from orientation. Compare French orienter and Italian orientare.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.