Oriented

How to spell oriented

8 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce oriented

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does oriented mean?

1. adjectiveDirected toward or focused on a particular aim, interest, or position.
2. verbPast tense of orient: aligned, positioned, or familiarised someone with surroundings.

Oriented in a sentence

• adjective

  The new manager is highly results oriented and tracks every target.

• verb

  The guide oriented the visitors before the long tour of the museum began.

• adjective

  Their service is firmly customer oriented, so complaints are handled quickly.

• verb

  She oriented the map toward the mountains to work out the route.

Where does oriented come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin oriens, the present participle of the verb oriri, which meant 'to rise'. Oriens literally described the rising sun and so came to name the east, the direction in which the sun rises. The verb 'to orient' originally meant to position something so that it faced east, a habit rooted in the building of churches whose altars were aligned toward the eastern horizon. English borrowed the word from French during the medieval period, and over the centuries its meaning broadened from 'turn toward the east' to the modern sense of arranging, aligning, or familiarising oneself with surroundings or aims. The same oriens root gives us 'Orient' for the eastern lands, and remembering that the core is the plain word 'orient' plus '-ed' helps avoid the common slip of inserting an extra syllable.

How the word is built

• orient- (from Latin oriens: the rising sun, the east)
• -ed (past participle / adjective suffix)