1.  orientation(n = noun.act) - the act of orienting;
is a kind of emplacement, locating, location, placement, position, positioning

2.  orientation(n = noun.cognition) - an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs;
is a kind of attitude, mental attitude
has particulars: wavelength, experimentalism, reorientation, perspective, position, view, orthodoxy, heresy, heterodoxy, unorthodoxy, ideology, political orientation, political theory, religious orientation

3.  orientation(n = noun.linkdef) - position or alignment relative to points of the compass or other specific directions;
is a kind of direction
has particulars: attitude, horizontal, vertical, quarter

4.  orientation(n = noun.cognition) predilection, preference - a predisposition in favor of something; "a predilection for expensive cars"; "his sexual preferences"; "showed a Marxist orientation"
is a kind of predisposition

5.  orientation(n = noun.cognition) - a person's awareness of self with regard to position and time and place and personal relationships;
is a kind of self-awareness

6.  orientation(n = noun.act) orientation course - a course introducing a new situation or environment;
is a kind of class, course, course of instruction, course of study

1.  The act or process of orientating; determination of the points of the compass, or the east point, in taking bearings. [1913 Webster]

2.  The tendency of a revolving body, when suspended in a certain way, to bring the axis of rotation into parallelism with the earth's axis. [1913 Webster]

3.  An aspect or fronting to the east; especially (Arch.), the placing of a church so that the chancel, containing the altar toward which the congregation fronts in worship, will be on the east end. [1913 Webster]

4.  A return to first principles; an orderly arrangement. [1913 Webster]
"The task of orientation undertaken in this chapter." [1913 Webster]

orientation, n.
1 the act or an instance of orienting; the state of being oriented.
2 a a relative position. b a person's attitude or adjustment in relation to circumstances, esp. politically or psychologically.
3 an introduction to a subject or situation; a briefing.
4 the faculty by which birds etc. find their way home from a distance.

Idiom:
orientation course esp. US a course giving information to newcomers to a university etc.

Derivative:
orientational adj.

Etymology:
app. f. ORIENT

N  laterality, side, flank, quarter, lee, hand, cheek, jowl, jole, wing, profile, temple, parietes, loin, haunch, hip, beam, gable, gable end, broadside, lee side, points of the compass, East, Orient, Levant, West, orientation, lateral, sidelong, collateral, parietal, flanking, skirting, flanked, sideling, many sided, multilateral, bilateral, trilateral, quadrilateral, Eastern, orient, oriental, Levantine, Western, occidental, Hesperian, sideways, sidelong, broadside on, on one side, abreast, alongside, beside, aside, by the side of, side by side, cheek by jowl, to windward, to leeward, laterally, right and left, on her beam ends, his cheek the may of days outworn.

orientation course, political orientation, religious orientation, value orientation