Vertiginous

He wrote surreal portraits of middle-class life reminiscent of Ionesco, though he has said his real influences were English specialists in vertiginous silliness like Lewis Carroll and P.G. Wodehouse. ❋ Unknown (2007)

The title refers to the vertiginous falls in Bach's chorale prelude Durch Adams Fall, which inspired the piece. ❋ Ivan Hewett (2012)

We too visited Cassis and took the "vertiginous" road over Cap Canille to La Ciotat. ❋ Unknown (2009)

And not just any heels: the only ones to be seen in are those preceded by adjectives such as "vertiginous", "teetering" and "skyscraper". ❋ Unknown (2010)

The vignettes of the boys' lives range from a little over two pages in 'Trash Kites' to the vertiginous twenty-four pages of the penultimate chapter, 'The Night I Am Made.' ❋ Ru Freeman (2011)

The effect of the wartime section of the journal is vertiginous. ❋ Modris Eksteins (2011)

But it may soon be, as momentum builds behind a campaign to designate as the official sport of Colorado the obscure discipline of pack burro racing—basically, running through vertiginous mountain passes while roped to a stubborn beast. ❋ Stephanie Simon (2011)

A chance encounter in a Greenwich Village dive sets a Brooklyn-born secretary on a vertiginous climb toward the highest reaches of New York society. ❋ Unknown (2011)

From a commercial fisherman's perspective, this governance structure isn't nearly as vertiginous as the president implied. ❋ Ezra Klein (2011)

He gave Yale a glancing blow but otherwise Beck's version of events is topsy-turvy and vertiginous, with no anchor tied to facts. ❋ Michael Conniff (2010)

With this look, shoes should be vertiginous (all the better to be observed in), so buy strictly the best—Rupert Sanderson's "Estelle" (£425), Jimmy Choo's "Private" metallic print leather sandals (£585) or Lanvin's "Boy" satin pumps (£540, Harrods ). ❋ Tina Gaudoin (2011)

In 2008 it was James Marsh with his vertiginous doc Man on Wire, in 2009 it was Duncan Jones with his philosophical sci-fi parable Moon, and last year Chris Morris became an unlikely Sundance hero with his biting jihadist comedy Four Lions. ❋ Unknown (2011)

In the end, Lennon couldn't duck the vertiginous myths that inspired a self-described nobody like Chapman to murder a man who deserved to live longer than most of us. ❋ Scott Thill (2010)

And it makes one chuckle at the way in which the high-end fashion industry has defined itself as an art form distinguished by both creativity and quality -- and thus worth its vertiginous prices. ❋ Robin Givhan (2010)

But the book is less a tale of a renowned author's vertiginous spiral into depression than it is a mother's poignant tribute to a Chinese-American girl who achieved success through her own intelligence, hard work and grit, but also with the extraordinary support of those closest to her. ❋ Mary Kissel (2011)

Harrods With this look, shoes should be vertiginous all the better to be observed in, so buy strictly the best. ❋ Unknown (2011)