reorient

verb

re·​ori·​ent (ˌ)rē-ˈȯr-ē-ˌent 

reoriented; reorienting

transitive verb

: to orient (someone or something) again or differently: such as

a

: to change the orientation or direction of (something or someone)

reorient the antenna

reoriented herself so she was facing north

b

: to reacquaint (someone, especially oneself) with a situation, environment, etc.

woke up and reoriented myself to my surroundings

… returning servicewomen and men struggling to reorient themselves to civilian life.

—Molly Callahan

c

: to change the goal or emphasis of (something or someone)

… I stumbled into motherhood and was bewildered at … the volte-face required to reorient myself, my values and my way of life …

—Madeleine Bunting

… lacks nearly every resource necessary to reorient its archaic industrial economy …

—David Remnick

The long-term potential of vast databases of genomic data to … reorient the debate on medical priorities …

—Larry Downes and Paul Nunes

also : to direct (something) toward the interests of a different group

… reorienting its policy priorities to the working class.

—Franklin Foer

reorientation

(ˌ)rē-ˌȯr-ē-ən-ˈtā-shən 

-ˌen-

noun

plural reorientations

Many soldiers also find blogging a useful way to help deal with reorientation to civilian life …

—Brad Knickerbocker

Examples of reorient in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The bill is projected to increase the national deficit by up to $4 trillion while reorienting many federal agencies missions and capabilities. —Andrew McKean, Outdoor Life, 22 May 2025

With that signal, the hulking bureaucracy of the U.S. military began to reorient itself, shifting the defense budget, training manuals, weapons contracts, and military strategy to focus on the Pacific theatre. —Colin Jones, New Yorker, 25 Apr. 2025

President Trump was adamant that the aggressive tariffs, which are set to go into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, were a necessary tool to rebalance trade and reorient the U.S. economy after years of being taken advantage of. —Brett Samuels, The Hill, 7 Apr. 2025

The denim brand’s fourth quarter came in stronger than analysts forecast and the company laid out a series of initiatives to reorient operations — from shuttering 20 North American stores to looking for a partner to take on its business in China. —Evan Clark, Footwear News, 4 Apr. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1877, in the meaning defined above