vital

Etymology

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.

adj

1. Relating to, or characteristic of life.
   vital energies; vital functions; vital actions
2. Necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends.
   The brain is a vital organ.
   We have argued that organizatory agents are operative in all vital processes, processes that overstep the limits of the physicochemical; […] 1925, Seba Eldridge, The Organization of Life, page 164
3. Invigorating or life-giving.
4. Necessary to continued existence.
   The transition to farming was vital for the creation of civilisation.
5. Relating to the recording of life events.
   Birth, marriage and death certificates are vital records.
6. Very important.
   It is vital that you don't forget to do your homework.
   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. 2012-12-14, Simon Jenkins, “We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 2, page 23
   Vocabulary is a vital component of educational success in both first and second language contexts. 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, →DOI, page 105
   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. January 12 2022, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43
7. Containing life; living.
   I ought to go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways. 1841, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”, in Essays: First Series
8. Capable of living; in a state to live; viable.