vital

1. 1.

   urgently needed; absolutely necessary

   “a critical element of the plan”

   “critical medical supplies”

   “vital for a healthy society”

   “of vital interest”

   Synonymscritical

   Similarindispensable
2. 2.

   performing an essential function in the living body

   “vital organs”

   “blood and other vital fluids”

   “the loss of vital heat in shock”

   “a vital spot”

   “life-giving love and praise”

   Synonymslife-sustaining

   Similaressential
3. 3.

   full of spirit; full of life

   “a dynamic full of life woman”

   “a vital and charismatic leader”

   “this whole lively world”

   Synonymslively

   Similaranimated
4. 4.

   manifesting or characteristic of life

   “a vital, living organism”

   “vital signs”

   Similaralive

Other forms of vital

comparative

vitaller·

superlative

vitallest·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about vital

What does vital mean?

vital means "urgently needed; absolutely necessary". That is the primary sense; the word has 4 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in vital?

vital has 2 syllables: vi-tal. The stress falls on "vi". In IPA it is /ˈvaɪtəl/.

What is another word for vital?

Close synonyms include critical, life-sustaining, lively. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is vital a common word?

vital is banded "Common" — everyday vocabulary in speech and writing. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.