vertiginous
/vəːˈtɪdʒɪnəs
/adjective
1Extremely high or steep: vertiginous drops to the valleys below...
- Hadid's graphics remind me of the steep perspectives and vertiginous sweep of illustrations in science fiction comics.
- As in the New York skyscraper photographs that followed, Church Street El features the blank faces of several buildings seen from a steep vertiginous view.
- This year's vertiginous drop in the Nasdaq market has caused Shin to rethink its timing, but its preparations are well advanced.
1.1Relating to or affected by vertigo.Although it is tempting to get close to the edge the terrain is daunting - a 12m drop deters clumsy, vertiginous or litigious tourists....
- As she lifted herself up from the computer console, walking towards her cabin in a dizzy, almost vertiginous way, she tripped on a sharp object.
- In this vertiginous mode, Armantrout can sound less like other ‘Language writers’ than like an improbably terse stand-up comic.
Derivatives
vertiginously
- With an estimated price of $40-50 million, the bidding started at $20m and rose vertiginously.
- The road twists vertiginously around sharp drop-offs, and nighttime is when poisonous fer-de-lance snakes slither across the road.
- Inside the Lada, the mood swings vertiginously between country-lovesick and Elvis Crespo's power salsa.
Origin
Early 17th century: from Latin vertiginosus, from vertigo 'whirling about' (see vertigo).