misorientate

verb

1. (transitive)To position (something) incorrectly, especially so that it faces in the wrong direction.

   “Sometimes I would misorientate slides 90 degrees or 180 degrees.”

   “You might misorientate the connector, i.e. connect it the wrong way round.”

   “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”

2. (intransitive)To become incorrectly positioned, especially to face in the wrong direction.

   “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.”

   “Thus the sub-grains gradually misorientate until they become recognizable separate entities, i.e. small recrystallized grains.”

   “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.”

   “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.”

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 […]”