vertiginous

American  

[ver-tij-uh-nuhs] / vərˈtɪdʒ ə nəs /

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.

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vertiginous British  

/ vɜːˈtɪdʒɪnəs /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or having vertigo

2. producing dizziness

3. whirling

4. changeable; unstable

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Other Word Forms

• unvertiginous adjective
• unvertiginously adverb
• unvertiginousness noun
• vertiginously adverb
• vertiginousness noun

Etymology

Origin of vertiginous

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

Example Sentences

To call the experience of seeing it vertiginous, dizzying, eye-opening and a bit frustrating would be an understatement.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 9, 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

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 • Oct. 29, 2024

He’d begun to bridge the vertiginous gap between what he told the world and the truth he knew deep inside.

From "A Deadly Wandering: A Mystery, a Landmark Investigation, and the Astonishing Science of Attention in the Digital Age" by Matt Richtel