Sunday, September 24

Today's word. Totally.

vertiginous \vur-TIJ-uh-nuhs\, adjective:

1. Affected with vertigo; giddy; dizzy.
2. Causing or tending to cause dizziness.
3. Turning round; whirling; revolving.
4. Inclined to change quickly or frequently; inconstant.


Vertiginous derives from Latin vertigo, "a turning round, a whirling round; giddiness," from vertere, "to turn." Related words include reverse, "to turn back (re-) or around"; subvert, "to undermine" (from sub-, "under" + vertere -- at root "to turn from under, to overturn"); and versus, "against" (from versus, "turned towards," hence "facing, opposed," from the past participle of vertere).

Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation for vertiginous

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2 comments:

  1. shorty10:36 PM, September 24, 2006

    Yup - as in: Being vertiginous sucks. Yup - sure does. Icky sounding word too. Interesting choice. Are you vertiginous as of late?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Something dirty11:04 PM, September 24, 2006

    I have been a couple of times lately. I'm also thinking of the changing quickly or frequently sense.

    ReplyDelete

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