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vital - 9 dictionary results
vi⋅tal
[vahyt-l] 
l
–adjective
| 1. | of or pertaining to life: vital processes. |
| 2. | having remarkable energy, liveliness, or force of personality: a vital leader. |
| 3. | being the seat or source of life: the vital organs. |
| 4. | necessary to life: vital fluids. |
| 5. | necessary to the existence, continuance, or well-being of something; indispensable; essential: vital for a healthy society. |
| 6. | affecting the existence, well-being, truth, etc., of something: a vital error. |
| 7. | of critical importance: vital decisions. |
| 8. | destructive to life; deadly: a vital wound. |
vi⋅tals
[vahyt-lz] –plural noun
| 1. | those bodily organs that are essential to life, as the brain, heart, liver, lungs, and stomach. |
| 2. | the essential parts of something: the vitals of a democracy. |
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To vital
| vi·tal (vīt'l) adj.
[Middle English, from Old French, from Latin vītālis, from vīta, life; see gwei- in Indo-European roots.] vi'tal·ly adv., vi'tal·ness n. |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Vital
Vi"tal\, a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.]1. Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions. 2. Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood. Do the heavens afford him vital food? --Spenser. And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth. --Milton. 3. Containing life; living. "Spirits that live throughout, vital in every part." --Milton. 4. Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends; mortal. The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part. --Pope. 5. Very necessary; highly important; essential. A competence is vital to content. --Young. 6. Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. [R.] Pythagoras and Hippocrates . . . affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital. --Sir T. Browne. 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
Vi"tal\, n. A vital part; one of the vitals. [R.]
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : vital
Spanish:
vital,
German:
(lebens)wichtig,
Japanese:
きわめて重大な
vital
c.1386, "of or manifesting life," from L. vitalis "of or belonging to life," from vita "life," related to vivere "to live," from PIE base *gwei- (cf. O.Pers. *jivaka- "alive;" Gk. bios "life," zoon "animal;" Lith. gyvata "(eternal) life;" O.E. cwic, cwicu "living, alive;" O.Ir. bethu "life;" cf. also bio-). The sense of "necessary or important" is from 1619, via the notion of "essential to life" (1482). Vital statistics is attested from 1837, with ref. to birth, marriage, death, etc.; meaning "a woman's bust, waist, and hip measurements" is from 1952. Vitality is from 1592; vitals "organs of the body essential to life" first recorded 1610, from the adj., taken as a noun.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: vi·tal
Pronunciation: 'vIt-&l
Function: adjective
1 a : existing as a manifestation of life b : concerned with or necessary to the maintenance of life <vital organs>
2 : characteristic of life or living beings
3 : recording data relating to lives
4 : of, relating to, or constituting the staining of living tissues —vi·tal·ly /-&l-E/ adverb
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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vital vi·tal (vīt'l)
adj.
- Of, relating to, or characteristic of life.
- Necessary to the continuation of life.
- Used or done on a living cell or tissue, as in staining.
- Destructive to life; fatal, as of an injury.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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