Word of the Day

Sunday January 31, 2010

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vertiginous [vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs]

adjective

1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.
2. Turning round; whirling; revolving.
3. Having or causing a whirling sensation or dizziness; liable to falling.

• Arterton, however, is not about to celebrate her vertiginous ascent just yet. For maybe it's her self-described freakishness, or maybe it's those working-class mores, but she seems remarkably unimpressed by her own successes, and truly unwilling to buy into her status as a serious big-screen player.
  Kevin Maher, "The Bond girl done good; Since her debut with 007, Gemma Arterton has resisted the starlet trap and opted for surprisingly gritty role"s, The Times, Jan 5, 2010
• The place still feels like a bar. There's beaty music. Chrome stairs lead up to the toilets where a sudden clear plate inserted into the floor gives you the vertiginous effect of walking the plank (especially if you've supped a cocktail). Today, though, we go for ginger beer.
  Jennifer Scott, "Restaurant review Fat Cat", Nottingham Evening Post, Dec 18, 2009
• More often, spots of many colors, sometimes very dull, sometimes, on the contrary, with certain people, so brilliant that reality cannot compare with it. These spots spread and shrink, changing form and color, constantly displacing one another. Sometimes the change is slow and gradual, sometimes again it is a whirlwind of vertiginous rapidity.
  Henri Bergson (1859 - 1941) A French philosopher. Dreams (1914)

Origin of the Word

Vertiginous, approximately 1608, derives from French vertigineux, from Latin vertiginosus "suffering from dizziness," from vertigo.