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

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

Violeta Autumn’s vertiginous redwood-and-concrete house perched along a cliff in Sausalito — a site others deemed unbuildable — demonstrates how terrain could inspire formal innovation.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 6, 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

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