Origin: Latin suffix -tion
Orientation has 7 different meanings across 1 category:
the act of orienting
"The orientation session for new employees took place on Monday morning to help everyone get familiar with the office layout and policies."
an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs
"Her strong orientation toward social justice drives her to volunteer at local shelters every weekend."
position or alignment relative to points of the compass or other specific directions
"The architect adjusted the windows' orientation so they would face south and capture maximum sunlight during winter."
a predisposition in favor of something
"a predilection for expensive cars"
"his sexual preferences"
"showed a Marxist orientation"
a person's awareness of self with regard to position and time and place and personal relationships
"After getting lost in the new city, I spent hours trying to regain my orientation so I knew where I was and who I could ask for help."
a course introducing a new situation or environment
"The university offered an orientation for all incoming freshmen to help them adjust to campus life."
The determination of the relative position of something or someone.
"The hikers checked their compass to determine the orientation of the trail before starting up the steep ridge."
In plain English: Orientation is the process of figuring out where you are and which way is up.
"The orientation session helped new students get to know their teachers and facilities."
Usage: Use orientation to describe the process of helping someone understand their new environment or role, such as a company onboarding program. Do not confuse it with simply stating where something is located; that specific act of finding direction is better expressed as determining one's bearing or position.
The word entered English from French as orientation. It was formed by combining the root meaning to turn or face with a suffix indicating an action or state.