Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

Date: 1700-1800
Language: French
Origin: orienter, from Old French orient; ORIENT2

orient

1 verb
     
o‧ri‧ent1 also orientate British English
1

be oriented to/towards/around something/somebody

to give a lot of attention to one type of activity or one type of person:
a course that is oriented towards the needs of businessmen
A lot of the training is orientated around communications skills.
The organization is strongly oriented towards research
2

orient yourself

a) SG to find exactly where you are by looking around you or using a map [↪ disorient, disorientated]:
She looked at the street names, trying to orient herself.
b) to become familiar with a new situation
orient yourself to
It takes new students a while to orientate themselves to college life.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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