# orient

Pronunciation: US say "OR-ee-ent" /ˈɔɹ.iˌɛnt/; UK say "AW-ree-ent" /ˈɔː.ɹɪˌɛnt/

## Verb

1. To shape the focus of something so that it appeals or relates to a particular group. *(US)*
   - Simple: To plan something so that it suits or speaks to a certain group of people.
   - _Several startups now orient their apps to retirees rather than students._
   - _The new editor oriented the magazine toward working parents._
2. To turn something so that it points or faces in a particular direction. *(US)*
   - Simple: To turn something so it points a certain way.
   - _The architects oriented the living room windows toward the lake._
   - _In a magnetic field, the tiny particles orient themselves along the field lines._
3. To make yourself or someone else familiar with a new situation or set of circumstances. *(US)*
   - Simple: To help yourself or someone else get to know a new situation.
   - _It took me a month to orient myself in the hospital's maze of rules and routines._
   - _A volunteer orients each new family on how the food bank works._
4. To work out which direction you are facing. *(US)*
   - Simple: To find out which way you are facing.
   - _Hikers who lose the trail should orient themselves with a map and compass before moving on._
   - _Stepping out of the station, he paused to orient himself by the church spire._
6. To turn so as to face in a particular direction. *(US)*
   - Simple: To turn and face a certain way.
   - _Within seconds the whole flock oriented toward the hawk circling overhead._
   - _Young sunflower heads orient toward the sun as it crosses the sky._
7. To set a person or object so that its sides line up with the points of the compass; in surveying, to turn a plane-table map until its directions match those on the ground. *(US)*
   - Simple: To turn something, such as a map, so its north, south, east, and west match the real directions.
   - _The surveyor oriented the plane table by sighting back along a line she had already measured._
   - _Crews must orient the site grid to true north before the dig begins._
8. To build or set something so that it faces east. *(US)*
   - Simple: To build or place something so that it faces east.
   - _Medieval masons took care to orient each church, setting the altar at its eastern end._
   - _The archaeologists noted that the villagers had oriented every grave with the feet toward the east._

## Proper noun

Pronunciation: US say "OR-ee-uhnt" /ˈɔɹ.i.ənt/; UK say "AW-ree-uhnt" /ˈɔː.ɹɪ.ənt/

5. The lands lying east of a given place, especially East Asia, usually written the Orient.
   - Simple: The lands in the east, especially the countries of Asia. It is usually written with a capital O.
   - _Caravans crossing the desert carried pepper and porcelain from the orient to European markets._
   - _Her grandfather's travel diaries describe a year spent wandering the orient._

## Adjective

Pronunciation: US say "OR-ee-uhnt" /ˈɔɹ.i.ənt/; UK say "AW-ree-uhnt" /ˈɔː.ɹɪ.ənt/

9. Belonging to, facing, or situated in the east.
   - Simple: In the east, or facing east.
   - _From the orient shore of the lake, the travelers could see the mountains they had crossed._
   - _In the poem, the lovers meet each dawn beside the orient wall of the garden._
12. Of a pearl or other gem, brilliant and of great value; more broadly, bright and lustrous.
   - Simple: Bright, shiny, and very valuable, used of pearls and other jewels. It can also just mean bright.
   - _The auction catalog listed a single strand of orient pearls, each one perfectly round._
   - _Candlelight made the wine glow orient in its crystal decanter._

## Noun

Pronunciation: US say "OR-ee-uhnt" /ˈɔɹ.i.ənt/; UK say "AW-ree-uhnt" /ˈɔː.ɹɪ.ənt/

10. The eastern part of the horizon, where the sun first appears each morning.
   - Simple: The east, where the sun comes up in the morning.
   - _A faint glow spread across the orient as the fishing boats left the harbor._
   - _By the time we reached the summit, the orient was already pale with dawn._
11. The brilliance or color that marks a pearl of high quality.
   - Simple: The bright shine or color of a very good pearl.
   - _Buyers judged each pearl by its size, its shape and above all its orient._
   - _Cheap imitations never match the deep orient of a fine natural pearl._

## Noun

Pronunciation: US say "OR-ee-uhnt" /ˈɔɹ.i.ənt/; UK say "AW-ree-uhnt" /ˈɔː.ɹɪ.ənt/

13. A pearl from the Indian region, famed for its brilliance; by extension, any pearl of unusual beauty and value. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A beautiful and valuable pearl. At first the word meant a bright pearl from around India.
   - _Each orient in the queen's necklace had been chosen for its luster._
   - _The jeweler's ledger records a pouch of orients bought from a trader just back from India._

## Adjective

Pronunciation: US say "OR-ee-uhnt" /ˈɔɹ.i.ənt/; UK say "AW-ree-uhnt" /ˈɔː.ɹɪ.ənt/

14. Having the color of the sky at daybreak; brightly colored anywhere from red to yellow. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Bright red, orange, or yellow, like the sky at sunrise.
   - _The garden blazed with orient roses and marigolds in the late summer light._
   - _Her silk scarf was dyed a deep orient hue, somewhere between flame and gold._
15. Rising, in the way the sun rises at the start of the day. *(dated)*
   - Simple: Coming up, like the sun in the morning.
   - _Fog lifted off the river as the orient sun cleared the eastern ridge._
   - _The poet hailed the young republic as an orient power whose day was only beginning._

## Origin

**Meanings 5, 9–15** — The noun comes from Middle English orient (“the east; the eastern sky; eastern lands, Asia”), borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Old French orient or directly from Latin oriēns (“the east; dawn, sunrise; rising”), the present participle of orior (“to rise, appear, be born”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₃er- (“to move, stir; to rise”). The adjective, Middle English orient (“eastern; from the Orient; brilliant, shining”, a quality of jewels from the Orient), comes from the noun.
**Meanings 1–4, 6–8** — The verb comes from French orienter (“to orientate; to guide; to set to north”), formed from the French noun orient with the verb ending -er.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/orient (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).