Word of the Day for Sunday, September 24, 2006
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.
But up close the building is impossibly steep, vertiginous, hostile. -- Neil Baldwln, Legends of the Plumed Serpent
He did us no good when, without permission, he entered Tibetan air space and flew up over central China, explaining that it was impossible to comply with the authorities' instructions to land because of the vertiginous mountain terrain. -- Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones, Around the World in 20 Days
. . .the bouldery ruins of vertiginous cliffs pounded and lashed by the fury of wind and water. -- Lena Lencek and Gideon Bosker, The Beach
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).
Gmail - vertiginous: Dictionary.com Word of the Day
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3 comments:
wonder if i'll ever use that word? hope it's not in conjunction with me or anyone i know getting vertiguous (was that it?).
love you,
mom
I don't know if I'll even remember half of these words in time to use them in relevent conversations, my mind is much too vertiginous for that... but it sure is fun to put them up and try to use them on the blog. Maybe some other commentors will try to incorporate them as well. Fun Fun!
No, M.E., you lost your virtiginy so long ago I doubt it'll ever come up in conversation again. I'm just sayin'...
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