vital

adjective

Simple meaning

Necessary to the continuation of life.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

vytuhl

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US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈvaɪtəl

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

Necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends.
Relating to or characteristic of life.
Necessary to continued existence.
Invigorating or life-giving.
Capable of living; in a state to live; viable.
Containing life; living.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

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

Used this way, vital is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone: Neutral
Formality: Neutral
Intensity: Not strongly marked
How common: Moderately common
Connotation: No strong connotation
Usage feel: Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

vital statisticsvital forcevital capacityvital organsvital principlevital importancevital rolevital part

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

life-giving
Necessary for life.
animated
Endowed with life.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

vitalitynounDerived noun
An energetic style.
vitallyadverbDerived adverb
To a vital degree.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

vital statisticsnounCompound term
Data relating to births and deaths and health and diseases and marriages.
vital capacitynounCompound term
The maximum amount of air that can be exhaled after a maximum inhalation (usually tested with a spirometer).
vital signnounCompound term
Sign of life.
vital principlenounCompound term
A hypothetical force to which the functions and qualities peculiar to living things are sometimes ascribed.
vital organnounCompound term
A bodily organ that is essential for life.
vital forcenounCompound term
A hypothetical force (not physical or chemical) once thought by Henri Bergson to cause the evolution and development of organisms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.