adjective
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of, relating to, or having vertigo
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producing dizziness
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whirling
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changeable; unstable
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of vertiginous
1600–10; < Latin vertīginōsus dizzy, equivalent to vertīgin- (stem of vertīgō ) vertigo + -ōsus -ous
Explanation
To be vertiginous is to be dizzy and woozy. It's a disorienting feeling. There's a famous movie called "Vertigo," which is named after a condition of extreme dizziness, often caused by heights. The word vertiginous applies to similar feelings and sensations. The flu makes many people feel vertiginous. Sometimes when you stand up too fast, you can get vertiginous for a second, and most people feel vertiginous after spinning in a circle. Vertigo is a Latin word that originally meant "whirling or spinning," from its root vertere, "to turn."
Vocabulary lists containing vertiginous
The Milagro Beanfield War
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Orphan Train
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"Tlön, Uqbar, Orbus Tertius" by Jorge Luis Borges
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
By the time hostilities commenced in the Middle East it had halved, and Michael Saylor’s bitcoin vehicle suffered an even more vertiginous drop, from north of $450 last summer to a February trough of $106.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 22, 2026
The book explores the concept of exposure, “the vertiginous feeling of depth that can overcome a climber on a wall.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 23, 2026
Arguably the most significant development in efforts to curb climate change -- the vertiginous cost reductions of solar and wind power, batteries and electric vehicles -- was seeded long before Paris.
From Barron's • Oct. 13, 2025
As Johnson puts it, “the vertiginous reality is that now, in the 2020s, we are once again living through the 1970s.”
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 2, 2025
She finds Vivian’s parents’ full names in the passenger records log— Patrick and Mary Power from County Galway, Ireland—and feels a vertiginous thrill, as if fictional characters have suddenly sprung to life.
From "Orphan Train" by Christina Baker Kline
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
