For years I have rejected the word orientate as being just a sloppy way of pronouncing the word “orient.” It seemed to me that the word orientate was another one of those words that comes down to us through its use in the military.
However, I was surprised to discover that the dictionaries I consult agree that it is a legitimate word, common in English language since the mid-1800′s. Evidently it is more common in its use in England than in America, but we’re catching up fast. Garner’s Modern American Usage, 2009, considers it a “needless variant” on the word orient. That comment works for me. I bristle when I hear someone say orientate in the same way as when someone drags their nails on a chalkboard.
Before you chastise me for being intolerant of variant usages, let me offer a disclaimer. I don’t like the word orientate, but I didn’t say it was not available for use. Like Garner, I consider it a needless alternative. The word orient works just fine.
Both, it seems, are words which mean to establish a position toward the east. That, in itself, makes the word spurious according to some, who are quick to point out that it relies upon a bias, assuming the “western world” to be central. That is a stretch to me, as direction is a neutral word; there is always an eastern direction, no matter where one starts. I agree that the word, Oriental, however, is a biased word, identifying people who live to the east of Europe. In current usage, oriental has been replaced with the word “Asian.“ I am much more comfortable with that distinction.
Orient and orientate have an extended meaning which is much more in use these days. It describes the act of describing accepted protocol in a workplace. Commonly, it is used when a new employee is schooled in that protocol, or when a new practice is introduced. Students, for instance, are subjected to orientation upon entering a school or university, at which time they are apprised of the rules, regulations, traditions, and practices of the institution.
My major objection to the use of orientate is that it is unnecessary. It strikes my ear as a flawed attempt to dignify a word, even when the word orient is already dignified enough for my taste. An argument for the word is found at TYWKIWDBI, a blog which is similar to this one in its objective to expose interesting variations on words:
“…Orient (v) and orientate (v) are all but interchangeable. Even the OED entry for orientate is “=orient”. Both words have a literal meaning: “position or align to face east or, by extension, in any specified direction or relative to some other defined data; or ascertain the bearings of”; and a figurative meaning: “bring into a defined relationship to known facts or principles”…
The shorter verb dates from 1727; the longer one came later, in 1849, when it was printed in the very same journal that seems to have introduced orientation. Since then, orientate has been used by writers such as Aldous Huxley, Margaret Mead, Tennessee Williams, and Randolph Quirk, but this has not stopped it from being criticised…”
So, having put my discomfort out there for you to know about, I concede the point and welcome the word into common use. However, I will not be using it, except in dialogue when appropriate. I like orient so much better.
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So your take on it would be that orientation is the original word, and orient/orientation are back-formations? That’s an interesting perspective. I happen to like orient, so I’d be more inclined to go in that direction than the manipulation to get to the noun form. Thanks for another perspective.
Perhaps those using and liking orientate are influenced by the back-formation from orientation, which means that the longer version, orientate, is the first to come to mind.
And what would be the noun formed from the verb orient?
Dissent gets you dissention, so that by the same grace, orient should get you oriention, which look and feels awkward.
And, for my tastes, which are indeed only that, so don’t anyone get their knickers in a twist, the sentence “I’ll orient myself using the usual signposts” doesn’t scan as easily as “I’ll use the usual signposts as orientation”, showing too, that I’d be more likely to use it as a noun.