Dictionary

misorientate en · VERB

Etymology

From mis- + orientate.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To position (something) incorrectly, especially so that it faces in the wrong direction.
   • You might misorientate the connector, i.e. connect it the wrong way round. 2004, Jenny Lawson, A+ Certificate in Computer Maintenance and Installation Level 2, page 135:
   • Since only one dislocation is required to misorientate one crystallite from another, the structure is a network of the type shown in Figure 5.44a and b 2013, R. E. Smallman, Modern Physical Metallurgy, page 253:
   • Sometimes I would misorientate slides 90 degrees or 180 degrees. 1974, Keith Copeland, Aids for the Severely Handicapped, page 99:
2. (intransitive) To become incorrectly positioned, especially to face in the wrong direction.
   • Thus the sub-grains gradually misorientate until they become recognizable separate entities, i.e. small recrystallized grains. 1976, R. G. J. Strens, E. G. Strens, The Physics and Chemistry of Minerals and Rocks, page 81:
   • Thus records at British observatories as far west as Stokholm, Bardsey and Calf of Man will involve mainly individuals which have misorientated, or undertaken random dispersal prior to migration. 1981, Nick Riddiford, Peter Findley, Seasonal Movements of Summer Migrants, page 82:
   • The standard procedure for demonstrating the pigeons' sun-compass consists in 're-setting' their internal clock and finding out whether they then misorientate in the expected direction. 1993, Thomas Alerstam, Bird Migration, page 360:
   • The price system does not signal the changes continually taking place in the value and market relations; it necessarily misorientates in matters of economic decisions. 1973, Béla Csikós Nagy, Socialist Economic Policy, page 44:
3. (reflexive) To become confused about one's position relative to one's environment; to become disoriented.
   • It is poetic justice of sorts that the church whose foreign agents and those indigenous members who chose to misorientate themselves has also given us these […] 2003, C. Krydz Ikwuemesi, The Triumph of a Vision, page 198:

Forms

Synonyms

misorient · misposition