It is generally necessary to avoid crowded rooms and the vertiginous influence of the dance, one 19th-century medical work advised. We're not sure what condition this advice was aimed at, but it may well have been "vertigo," a disordered state characterized by whirling dizziness. "Vertiginous," from the Latin vertiginosus, is the adjective form of "vertigo," which in Latin means a turning or whirling action. Both words descend from the Latin verb vertere, meaning "to turn." ("Vertiginous" and "vertigo" are just two of an almost dizzying array of "vertere" offspring, from "adverse" to "vortex.") The "dizzying" sense of "vertiginous" is often used figuratively, as in "vertiginous medical discoveries may drastically change life in the 21st century."
a 3-D effect that is likely to leave some audience members feeling vertiginous
Recent Examples on the WebIn a way, Nyiragongo, a vertiginous volcano in Congo, is always erupting: The mountain is crowned by a rare, persistent lava lake constantly fed by churning magma below.BostonGlobe.com, 3 Sep. 2022 The intricate, slither-thin cornrows, braids with multicolored beads, and vertiginous Afros laced with ribbons served as a master class in technique and style. Funmi Fetto, Vogue, 23 Aug. 2022 How many times can Mann freak out the audience by cutting to a vertiginous shot of the unfolding crisis? Noel Murray, Los Angeles Times, 11 Aug. 2022 Their vertiginous metafictional comedy has been enormously influential, and has still not been matched. Gabriel Winslow-yost, The New York Review of Books, 3 Aug. 2022 But as with vertiginous Yosemite precipices, the Rio de Janeiro Christ the Redeemer statue and most recently our own 6th Street Bridge archways, these precautions have proved small deterrent. Gale Holland, Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2022 Any or all of this might be threatening or vertiginous or worse, but none of it suggests stuckness. Virginia Heffernan, Wired, 11 July 2022 The vertiginous Fuente Dé cable car offers sweeping views and access to excellent walking routes. Joe Minihane, CNN, 13 July 2022 The vertiginous slopes and sea cliffs of this five-square-mile island in the Caribbean don't leave much space to land a plane. Nicola Chilton, CNN, 8 July 2022 See More