vertiginous

[ ver-tij-uh-nuhs ]

adjective

1. whirling; spinning; rotary:

   vertiginous currents of air.

2. affected with vertigo; dizzy.
3. liable or threatening to cause vertigo:

   a vertiginous climb.

4. apt to change quickly; unstable:

   a vertiginous economy.

vertiginous

/ vɜːˈtɪdʒɪnəs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or having vertigo
2. producing dizziness
3. whirling
4. changeable; unstable

Derived Forms

• verˈtiginousness, noun
• verˈtiginously, adverb

Other Words From

• ver·tigi·nous·ly adverb
• ver·tigi·nous·ness noun
• unver·tigi·nous adjective
• unver·tigi·nous·ly adverb
• unver·tigi·nous·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of vertiginous¹

1600–10; < Latin vertīginōsus dizzy, equivalent to vertīgin- (stem of vertīgō ) vertigo + -ōsus -ous

Word History and Origins

Origin of vertiginous¹

C17: from Latin vertīginōsus, from vertigo

Example Sentences

The film’s greatest accomplishment is that pervasive feeling of wrongness, of danger, a vertiginous sense that there’s no safe haven left.

From Slate

There’s the satisfying meat and potatoes of exploration at Castle Ensis, with vertiginous balustrades and winding ramparts that cross over and under themselves in impossible architectural configurations.

From New York Times

“For this vertiginous new perspective, at once artistic and broadly cultural, I lacked at the time a name, much less an adequate vocabulary and grammar,” she wrote in her 1996 book, “The Death of Character: Perspectives on Theater After Modernism.”

From New York Times

I caught up with Ms. von Furstenberg recently to talk about a new Hulu documentary, “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge,” on her vertiginous, glamorous life, a life darkened by the Holocaust, AIDS, her bout with tongue cancer and her periodic business woes.

From New York Times

I caught up with Ms. von Furstenberg recently to talk about a new Hulu documentary, “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge,” on her vertiginous, glamorous life, a life darkened by the Holocaust, AIDS, her bout with tongue cancer and her periodic business woes.

From New York Times