Vital

• POS: Adjective, Noun
• HYPHEN: vi=tal

CIDE DICTIONARY

Vital, a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.].

•  Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.  [1913 Webster]
•  Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood.  [1913 Webster]

  "Do the heavens afford him vital food?"  [1913 Webster]

  "And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth."  [1913 Webster]
•  Containing life; living.  Milton.  [1913 Webster]
•  Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends; mortal.  [1913 Webster]

  "The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part."  [1913 Webster]
•  Very necessary; highly important; essential.  [1913 Webster]

  "A competence is vital to content."  [1913 Webster]
•  Capable of living; in a state to live; viable.  [1913 Webster]

  "Pythagoras and Hippocrates . . . affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital."  [1913 Webster]

Vital air, oxygen gas; -- so called because essential to animal life. [Obs.] -- Vital capacity (Physiol.), the breathing capacity of the lungs; -- expressed by the number of cubic inches of air which can be forcibly exhaled after a full inspiration. -- Vital force. (Biol.) See under Force. The vital forces, according to Cope, are nerve force (neurism), growth force (bathmism), and thought force (phrenism), all under the direction and control of the vital principle. Apart from the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable character, nor vital force as anything other than a form of physical energy derived from, and convertible into, other well-known forces of nature. -- Vital functions (Physiol.), those functions or actions of the body on which life is directly dependent, as the circulation of the blood, digestion, etc. -- Vital principle, an immaterial force, to which the functions peculiar to living beings are ascribed. -- Vital statistics, statistics respecting the duration of life, and the circumstances affecting its duration. -- Vital tripod. (Physiol.) See under Tripod. -- Vital vessels (Bot.), a name for latex tubes, now disused. See Latex.

Vital, n. 

 A vital part; one of the vitals.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Vital, adj. & n.
--adj.
1 of, concerned with, or essential to organic life (vital functions).
2 essential to the existence of a thing or to the matter in hand (a vital question; secrecy is vital).
3 full of life or activity.
4 affecting life.
5 fatal to life or to success etc. (a vital error).
6 disp. important.
--n. (in pl.) the body's vital organs, e.g. the heart and brain.

Idiom

vital capacity the volume of air that can be expelled from the lungs after taking the deepest possible breath. vital force 1 (in Bergson's philosophy) life-force.
2 any mysterious vital principle. vital power the power to sustain life.
vital statistics
1 the number of births, marriages, deaths, etc.
2 colloq. the measurements of a woman's bust, waist, and hips.

Derivative

vitally adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF f. L vitalis f. vita life

THESAURUS

Vital

abiding, aboveground, acid, age-long, aged, agog, alacritous, alive, alive and kicking, all agog, among the living, ancient, animate, animated, animating, antic, antique, anxious, armipotent, authoritative, avid, bang, basic, bedrock, biological, biotic, biting, bouncing, breathing, breathless, brisk, bursting to, called for, capable of life, capersome, cardinal, central, chronic, cogent, coltish, compulsory, conscious, constant, constitutive, continuing, corrosive, critical, crucial, cutting, desirous, diuturnal, drive, driving, durable, dynamic, eager, effective, endowed with life, enduring, energetic, enlivened, enlivening, essential, evergreen, existent, exuberant, flush, focal, forceful, forcible, forward, frisky, frolicsome, full of beans, full of life, fundamental, gamesome, gay, getup, gutsy, hale, hale and hearty, hardy, hearty, high-potency, high-powered, high-pressure, high-tension, immutable, impatient, imperative, important, impressive, in force, in power, in the flesh, incisive, indicated, indispensable, inspirited, instinct with life, integral, intransient, inveterate, invigorating, irreducible, irreductible, irreplaceable, irresistible, keen, key, lasting, life-and-death, life-giving, life-or-death, live, lively, living, long-lasting, long-lived, long-standing, long-term, longeval, longevous, lusty, macrobiotic, main, mandatory, material, mighty, mighty in battle, mordant, necessary, needed, needful, nervous, of long duration, of long standing, of vital importance, operative, organic, organized, panting, paramount, penetrating, perdurable, perduring, perennial, permanent, perpetual, persistent, persisting, physiological, piercing, pivotal, playful, poignant, potent, powerful, prepotent, prerequisite, prompt, puissant, punchy, quick, quickening, raring to, ready, ready and willing, red-blooded, rejuvenating, remaining, required, requisite, reviving, robust, robustious, robustuous, rollicking, rollicksome, rompish, rude, rugged, ruling, sempervirent, sensational, sinewed, sinewy, skittish, slashing, spirited, sportive, sprightly, stable, stalwart, staying, steadfast, stout, strenuous, striking, strong, sturdy, substantive, telling, tenacious of life, tough, trenchant, unfading, unforgoable, valid, very much alive, viable, vigorous, vim, vitality, vitalizing, vivacious, vivid, vivified, vivifying, wanted, zestful, zippy, zoetic

ROGET THESAURUS

Vital

Importance

N importance, consequence, moment, prominence, consideration, mark, materialness, import, significance, concern, emphasis, interest, greatness, superiority, notability, weight, value, usefulness, gravity, seriousness, solemnity, no joke, no laughing matter, pressure, urgency, stress, matter of life and death, memorabilia, notabilia, great doings, red-letter day, great thing, great point, main chance, the be all and the end all, cardinal point, substance, gist, sum and substance, gravamen, head and front, important part, principal part, prominent part, essential part, half the battle, sine qua non, breath of one's nostrils, cream, salt, core, kernel, heart, nucleus, keynote, keystone, corner stone, trump card, salient points, top sawyer, first fiddle, prima donna, chief, triton among the minnows, 'it', important, of importance, momentous, material, to the point, not to be overlooked, not to be despised, not to be sneezed at, egregious, weighty, of note, notable, prominent, salient, signal, memorable, remarkable, unforgettable, worthy of remark, worthy of notice, never to be forgotten, stirring, eventful, grave, serious, earnest, noble, grand, solemn, impressive, commanding, imposing, urgent, pressing, critical, instant, paramount, essential, vital, all-absorbing, radical, cardinal, chief, main, prime, primary, principal, leading, capital, foremost, overruling, of vital importance in the front rank, first-rate, superior, considerable, marked, rare, significant, telling, trenchant, emphatic, pregnant, tanti, materially, in the main, above all, kat' exochin, par excellence, to crown all, to beat all, expende Hannibalem!.

Life

N life, vitality, viability, animation, vital spark, vital flame, soul, spirit, respiration, wind, breath of life, breath of one's nostrils, oxygen, air, respirator, artificial respirator, heart and lung machine, iron lung, medical devices, lifeblood, Archeus, existence, vivification, vital force, vitalization, revivification, Prometheus, life to come, physiology, biology, animal ecology, nourishment, staff of life, genetics, heredity, inheritance, evolution, natural selection, reproduction (production), microbe, aerobe, anaerobe, facultative anaerobe, obligate aerobe, obligate anaerobe, halophile, methanogen, archaebacteria, microaerophile, animal, vegetable, artificial life, robot, robotics, artificial intelligence, breathing, breathing rate, heartbeat, pulse, temperature, preservation of life, healing (medicine), living, alive, in life, in the flesh, in the land of the living, on this side of the grave, above ground, breathing, quick, animated, animative, lively, all alive and kicking, tenacious of life, full of life, yeasty, vital, vitalic, vivifying, vivified viable, zoetic, Promethean, vivendi causa, atqui vivere militare est, non est vivere sed valere vita.