Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for February 15, 2026 is:
 
 
 
 
 vertiginous &#149; \ver-TIJ-uh-nus\&nbsp; &#149; adjective
 Vertiginous is a formal adjective used to describe something that causes or is likely to cause a feeling of dizziness especially because of great height.

// As a window washer for some of the city’s tallest skyscrapers, Victor had to quickly master working at vertiginous heights.

<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vertiginous">See the entry ></a> 
 
 
 
 Examples:
 “The climb is infamous for its heart-pumping switchbacks and vertiginous jaunt along a narrow sliver of crag. Those who fear heights, like me, typically avoid it.” — Stephanie Vermillion, Travel + Leisure, 9 Nov. 2025
 
 
 
 Did you know?
 The climactic scene of <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Hitchcock">Alfred Hitchcock’s</a> classic thriller Vertigo features, appropriately, a dramatic climb—and fall—from a vertiginous bell tower. Vertiginous, which describes things that cause <a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vertigo">vertigo</a> (a sensation of motion in which an individual or their surroundings seem to whirl dizzily) comes from the Latin adjective vertiginosus, which in turn comes from the Latin noun vertigo, meaning “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 “the vertiginous heights of cinematic legend.”

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