vital
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English vital, from Old French vital, from Latin vītālis (“of life, life-giving”), from vīta (“life”), from vīvō (“I live”).Doublet of jiva and quick.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (comparative more vital, superlative most vital)
- Relating to, or characteristic of life.
- Synonym: lifely
- vital energies; vital functions; vital actions
- Necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends.
- The brain is a vital organ.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 12:
- And doen the heavens afford him vitall food?
- 1925, Seba Eldridge, The Organization of Life, page 164:
- We have argued that organizatory agents are operative in all vital processes, processes that overstep the limits of the physicochemical; […]
- 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt[1]:
- Challenger breathed two or three times with enormous gulps, his lungs roaring as he drew in the vital gas.
- Invigorating or life-giving.
- Necessary to continued existence.
- The transition to farming was vital for the creation of civilisation.
- Relating to the recording of life events.
- Birth, marriage and death certificates are vital records.
- Very important.
- Synonyms: crucial, necessary, significant; see also Thesaurus:important
- It is vital that you don't forget to do your homework.
- 2012 December 14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly[2], volume 188, number 2, page 23:
- 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.
- 2018, Clarence Green; James Lambert, “Advancing disciplinary literacy through English for academic purposes: Discipline-specific wordlists, collocations and word families for eight secondary subjects”, in Journal of English for Academic Purposes, volume 35, , page 105:
- Vocabulary is a vital component of educational success in both first and second language contexts.
- 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:
- Typically for the 'get-on-with-it' era, the railway and military worked like demons to restore the vital rail link. The crater was rapidly filled in and the earth tamped solid, the wreckage was removed by breakdown trains, new rails and sleepers were rushed forward by willing hands, and US Army bulldozers piled in. By 2020 on the same day, both tracks were open for traffic again where there had been a gaping pit just hours before.
- Containing life; living.
- Synonyms: extant, live, kicking; see also Thesaurus:alive
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- spirits that live throughout, vital in every part
- 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series:
- I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways.
- 1715–1720, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book V”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC:
- The dart […] pierced a vital part.
- Capable of living; in a state to live; viable.
- 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
- Pythagoras and Hippocrates […] affirming the birth of the seventh month to be vital.
AntonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
relating to, or characteristic of life
|
necessary to the continuation of life
|
invigorating or life-giving
|
necessary to continued existence
|
relating to the recording of life events
|
very important
|
containing life — see living
capable of living
|
Further readingEdit
- “vital”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
- “vital”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
- “vital”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
CatalanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital m or f (masculine and feminine plural vitals)
Related termsEdit
FrenchEdit
EtymologyEdit
Inherited from Old French vital, from Latin vītālis (“of life, life-giving”).
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (feminine vitale, masculine plural vitaux, feminine plural vitales)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “vital”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
GalicianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Latin vītālis (“of life, life-giving”).
AdjectiveEdit
vital m or f (plural vitais)
Related termsEdit
GermanEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (strong nominative masculine singular vitaler, comparative vitaler, superlative am vitalsten)
- lively; hale; vigorous
- (rather rare, formal) vital (necessary to, or characteristic of life)
- Synonyms: lebenswichtig, Lebens-
DeclensionEdit
Positive forms of vital
| number & gender | singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |||
| predicative | er ist vital | sie ist vital | es ist vital | sie sind vital | |
| strong declension (without article) |
nominative | vitaler | vitale | vitales | vitale |
| genitive | vitalen | vitaler | vitalen | vitaler | |
| dative | vitalem | vitaler | vitalem | vitalen | |
| accusative | vitalen | vitale | vitales | vitale | |
| weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der vitale | die vitale | das vitale | die vitalen |
| genitive | des vitalen | der vitalen | des vitalen | der vitalen | |
| dative | dem vitalen | der vitalen | dem vitalen | den vitalen | |
| accusative | den vitalen | die vitale | das vitale | die vitalen | |
| mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein vitaler | eine vitale | ein vitales | (keine) vitalen |
| genitive | eines vitalen | einer vitalen | eines vitalen | (keiner) vitalen | |
| dative | einem vitalen | einer vitalen | einem vitalen | (keinen) vitalen | |
| accusative | einen vitalen | eine vitale | ein vitales | (keine) vitalen | |
Comparative forms of vital
| number & gender | singular | plural | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | |||
| predicative | er ist vitaler | sie ist vitaler | es ist vitaler | sie sind vitaler | |
| strong declension (without article) |
nominative | vitalerer | vitalere | vitaleres | vitalere |
| genitive | vitaleren | vitalerer | vitaleren | vitalerer | |
| dative | vitalerem | vitalerer | vitalerem | vitaleren | |
| accusative | vitaleren | vitalere | vitaleres | vitalere | |
| weak declension (with definite article) |
nominative | der vitalere | die vitalere | das vitalere | die vitaleren |
| genitive | des vitaleren | der vitaleren | des vitaleren | der vitaleren | |
| dative | dem vitaleren | der vitaleren | dem vitaleren | den vitaleren | |
| accusative | den vitaleren | die vitalere | das vitalere | die vitaleren | |
| mixed declension (with indefinite article) |
nominative | ein vitalerer | eine vitalere | ein vitaleres | (keine) vitaleren |
| genitive | eines vitaleren | einer vitaleren | eines vitaleren | (keiner) vitaleren | |
| dative | einem vitaleren | einer vitaleren | einem vitaleren | (keinen) vitaleren | |
| accusative | einen vitaleren | eine vitalere | ein vitaleres | (keine) vitaleren | |
Superlative forms of vital
IndonesianEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Dutch vitaal, from Middle French vital, from Latin vītālis.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital
- vital:
- very important.
- (medicine) necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends.
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
Further readingEdit
- “vital” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Language Development and Fostering Agency — Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic Indonesia, 2016.
InterlinguaEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (not comparable)
Related termsEdit
Norwegian BokmålEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (neuter singular vitalt, definite singular and plural vitale)
ReferencesEdit
- “vital” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Norwegian NynorskEdit
EtymologyEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (neuter singular vitalt, definite singular and plural vitale)
ReferencesEdit
- “vital” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.
PortugueseEdit
EtymologyEdit
Learned borrowing from Latin vītālis.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital m or f (plural vitais)
- vital (relating to, or characteristic of life)
- vital (necessary to the continuation of life)
- vital (very important)
- Synonyms: crucial, fundamental, essencial
Related termsEdit
RomanianEdit
EtymologyEdit
Borrowed from French vital, from Latin vitalis.
AdjectiveEdit
vital m or n (feminine singular vitală, masculine plural vitali, feminine and neuter plural vitale)
DeclensionEdit
Declension of vital
Related termsEdit
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
vital (plural vitales)
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
See alsoEdit
Further readingEdit
- “vital”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014