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vital

adj
/ˈvaɪtəl/

Etymology

From Middle English vital, from Old French vital, from Latin vītālis (“of life, life-giving”), from vīta (“life”), from vīvō (“to live”). Doublet of jiva and quick.

  1. derived from vītālis
  2. derived from vital
  3. inherited from vital

Definitions

  1. Relating to or characteristic of life.

    • vital energies; vital functions; vital actions
    • But open converse is there none, ⁠So much the vital spirits sink ⁠To see the vacant chair, and think, ‘How good! how kind! and he is gone.’

  2. Necessary to the continuation of life

    Necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends.

    • The brain is a vital organ.
    • And doen the heavens afford him vitall food?
    • We have argued that organizatory agents are operative in all vital processes, processes that overstep the limits of the physicochemical; […]

  3. Invigorating or life-giving.

  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. Necessary to continued existence.

      • The transition to farming was vital for the creation of civilisation.

    2. Relating to the recording of life events.

      • Birth, marriage and death certificates are vital records.

    3. Very important.

      • It is vital that you don't forget to do your homework.
      • David Cameron insists that his latest communications data bill is “vital to counter terrorism”. Yet terror is mayhem. It is no threat to freedom. That threat is from counter-terror, from ministers capitulating to securocrats.
      • Vocabulary is a vital component of educational success in both first and second language contexts.

    4. Containing life

      Containing life; living.

      • spirits that live throughout, vital in every part
      • I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.
      • The dart […]pierced a vital part.

    5. Lively, having vitality

      • Montreal is a charming vital city with a large lesbian and gay population which clusters around a neighborhood not far from the center of town.

    6. Capable of living

      Capable of living; in a state to live; viable.

      • Pythagoras and Hippocrates […] affirming the birth of the seventh month to be vital.

    7. A surname.

The neighborhood

Derived

élan vital, noeud vital, vital air, vital capacity, vital effect, vital force, vital function, vital index, vital organ, vital sign, vital signs, vital spark, vital statistic, vital statistics

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at vital. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01vital02continuation03program04leaflet05paper06draining07drainage08natural09nature

A definitional loop anchored at vital. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at vital

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA