situate

/ˈsɪtʃueɪt/

/ˈsɪtʃueɪt/

Other forms: situated; situates; situating

When you situate something, you figure out where it should go or exactly where it is. You might, for example, use a compass to situate the hunting camp you're building on your grandfather's land.

Your brother might decide to situate his drums in a far corner of the basement, where his banging is less likely to disturb the household. A land surveyor might use a GPS or satellite data to situate the boundaries of a particular property. In the 1530's, situate literally meant "to give a site to," from the Medieval Latin situare, "to place or locate," with the Latin root word situs, "place or position."

Definitions of situate

1. verb

   determine or indicate the place, site, or limits of, as if by an instrument or by a survey
   synonyms: locate

   types:

   acquire

   locate (a moving entity) by means of a tracking system such as radar

   radiolocate

   locate by means of radar

   map

   locate within a specific region of a chromosome in relation to known DNA or gene sequences

   localise, localize, place

   identify the location or place of

   base

   situate as a center of operations

   type of:

   ascertain, determine, find, find out

   establish after a calculation, investigation, experiment, survey, or study
2. verb

   put (something somewhere) firmly
   synonyms: deposit, fix, posit

   types:

   bury

   place in the earth and cover with soil

   sediment

   deposit as a sediment

   type of:

   lay, place, pose, position, put, set

   put into a certain place or abstract location