orientation

Orientation is which way something is turned, and where that leaves it in relation to everything around it. A photo in portrait or landscape orientation; a map spun round until its orientation matches the street you are standing in.

From facing a direction comes finding your footing, so the first days at a new school or job are orientation — the tour, the passwords, the where-the-fire-exit-is talk, which British workplaces call induction. The word also names the deep settings of a person: sexual orientation, political orientation, an orientation towards research rather than teaching. The verb is orient in American English, and orient or orientate in British English, both meaning to work out where you are or to point something a certain way. Disorientation is its opposite: waking in a hotel room and not knowing which wall the door is in. In building and engineering it stays literal — the orientation of the panels decides how much sun they catch.