The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Orientation \O`ri*en*ta"tion\, n. [Cf. F. orientation.]
   [1913 Webster]
   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. (Fig.): A return to first principles; an orderly
      arrangement.
      [1913 Webster]

            The task of orientation undertaken in this chapter.
                                                  --L. F. Ward.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

orientation
    n 1: the act of orienting
    2: an integrated set of attitudes and beliefs
    3: position or alignment relative to points of the compass or
       other specific directions
    4: a predisposition in favor of something; "a predilection for
       expensive cars"; "his sexual preferences"; "showed a Marxist
       orientation" [syn: predilection, preference,
       orientation]
    5: a person's awareness of self with regard to position and time
       and place and personal relationships
    6: a course introducing a new situation or environment [syn:
       orientation course, orientation]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

81 Moby Thesaurus words for "orientation":
   acclimation, acclimatization, accommodation, accustoming,
   adaptation, adaption, adjustment, aim, alignment, arrangement,
   aspect, assimilation, attitude, azimuth, bearing, bearings, bent,
   breaking, breaking-in, briefing, case hardening,
   celestial navigation, conditioning, course, current,
   dead reckoning, direction, direction line, disorientation,
   domestication, drift, exposure, familiarization, fix, frontage,
   habituation, hardening, heading, helmsmanship, housebreaking,
   inclination, initiation, instruction, introduction, inurement, lay,
   layout, lie, line, line of direction, line of march,
   line of position, location, naturalization, navigation, pilotage,
   piloting, placement, placing, point, position, position line,
   positioning, preparation, quarter, radio bearing, range, run,
   seasoning, set, set-up, situation, steerage, steering, taming,
   tendency, tenor, track, training, trend, way