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

To the south and west and high above the town, there is Dún Aonghasa, a prehistoric three-sided stone enclosure whose fourth wall is the vertiginous cliffside, here towering 300 feet above the Atlantic.

From The Daily Beast

At the start of 2021, no one would have suspected GameStop, then seen as a shopping mall relic, was about to embark on a vertiginous rally that would reconfigure Wall Street’s power dynamics.

From Quartz

GDP plunged in the most vertiginous drop ever recorded, and millions of workers lost their jobs almost instantly.

From Fortune

His prophecy kicked off a vertiginous frenzy of doomsaying, and he was thrown in jail by fearful Bolognese officials.

From The Daily Beast

Skiing/boarding at Niseko is not about reaching vertiginous heights.

From The Daily Beast

Ahead of him, as he rose to his feet, the line of guards stood out as paler darknesses against the vertiginous island face.

From Project Gutenberg

A vertiginous faintness brought him half tumbling and half rolling back into his chair, wheezing and moist with sweat.

From Project Gutenberg

It is only after long internal travail that it moves with vertiginous rapidity.

From Project Gutenberg

This Tarantula-dance of repetitions and vertiginous argumentation in circulo, begun in imposture and self-consummated in madness!

From Project Gutenberg

Music was become vertiginous; a mad vortex, wherein whirled mad atoms, madly embracing.

From Project Gutenberg