vertiginous

[ ver-tij-uh-nuhs ]

See synonyms for: vertiginous vertiginousness on Thesaurus.com

adjective

whirling; spinning; rotary: vertiginous currents of air.
affected with vertigo; dizzy.

liable or threatening to cause vertigo: a vertiginous climb.
apt to change quickly; unstable: a vertiginous economy.

Origin of vertiginous

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

Other words from vertiginous

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

Words Nearby vertiginous

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use vertiginous in a sentence

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.
The Irish Islands on the Edge of the World | Malcolm Jones | November 23, 2022 | 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.
How meme stocks changed Wall Street | Scott Nover | December 20, 2021 | Quartz
GDP plunged in the most vertiginous drop ever recorded, and millions of workers lost their jobs almost instantly.
Why aren’t we in another Great Depression? | Geoffrey Colvin | December 6, 2020 | Fortune
His prophecy kicked off a vertiginous frenzy of doomsaying, and he was thrown in jail by fearful Bolognese officials.
The Volcano That Rewrote History | William O’Connor | May 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Skiing/boarding at Niseko is not about reaching vertiginous heights.
Olympians Dish on Their Favorite Spots to Ski & Snowboard | The Daily Beast | October 26, 2013 | 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.
The Sensitive Man | Poul William Anderson
A vertiginous faintness brought him half tumbling and half rolling back into his chair, wheezing and moist with sweat.
The Shadow | Arthur Stringer
It is only after long internal travail that it moves with vertiginous rapidity.
Political and Literary essays, 1908-1913 | Evelyn Baring
This Tarantula-dance of repetitions and vertiginous argumentation in circulo, begun in imposture and self-consummated in madness!
Anima Poet | Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Music was become vertiginous; a mad vortex, wherein whirled mad atoms, madly embracing.
Melomaniacs | James Huneker

British Dictionary definitions for vertiginous

vertiginous

/ (vɜːˈtɪdʒɪnəs) /

adjective

of, relating to, or having vertigo
producing dizziness

whirling
changeable; unstable

Origin of vertiginous

C17: from Latin vertīginōsus, from vertigo

Derived forms of vertiginous

vertiginously, adverb
vertiginousness, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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