vertigo

noun

SayVUR-ti-gohUS/ˈvɝtɪɡoʊ/UK/ˈvɜːtɪɡəʊ/

Pluralvertigos (some meanings), vertigoes (some meanings)

4 meanings of vertigo

1
noununcountable
A spinning feeling that makes you lose your balance, often from heights or an ear problem.
Like the dizzy feeling after you spin around fast and everything keeps turning.
Looking down from the tall bridge gave him sudden vertigo.
Her vertigo made the whole room seem to spin.
Similardizziness, giddiness, light-headedness
Note
2
nouncountable or uncountable
A confused, dizzy feeling in the mind, like when life feels out of control.
Like feeling dizzy inside your head when everything around you changes too fast.
The sudden news threw her into a kind of vertigo she could not shake.
Too many choices left him in a dizzy vertigo of indecision.
Similardisorientation, giddiness, dizziness, confusion
Oppositeequilibrium, stability, certainty
3
noununcountable
The act of spinning round and round very quickly.
Like a spinning top going round and round.
The whirling dancers spun in a continuous vertigo for nearly an hour.
The carousel built up to a fast vertigo before it slowed down.
Similarwhirl, spinning, gyration, rotation, spin
4
nouncountable
A very small land snail with a coiled shell, from a group named Vertigo.
The biologist found a tiny vertigo clinging to the wet leaf.
A single vertigo can be smaller than a grain of rice.
Note

Practice

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Origin

This word comes from the Latin word "vertīgō".