Vital
English Meaning
Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions.
- Of, relating to, or characteristic of life: See Synonyms at living.
- Necessary to the continuation of life; life-sustaining: a vital organ; vital nutrients.
- Full of life; animated: "The population of the teeming, vital slum . . . declined” ( Rick Hampson).
- Imparting life or animation; invigorating: the sun's vital rays.
- Necessary to continued existence or effectiveness; essential: "Irrigation was vital to early civilization” ( William H. McNeill). "A vital component of any democracy is a free labor movement” ( Bayard Rustin).
- Concerned with or recording data pertinent to lives: vital records.
- Biology Used or done on a living cell or tissue: vital dyes; vital staining.
- Destructive to life; fatal: a vital injury.
