Vital

Vital, vī′tal, adj. belonging or contributing to life: containing or necessary to life: important as life: essential.—n. Vītalisā′tion.—v.t. Vī′talise, to make vital or alive: to give life to or furnish with the vital principle.—ns. Vī′talism, the doctrine that there is a vital principle distinct from the organisation of living bodies, which directs all their actions and functions; Vī′talist, one who holds this doctrine.—adj. Vītalis′tic.—n. Vītal′ity, quality of being vital: principle or power of life: capacity to endure and flourish.—adv. Vī′tally.—n.pl. Vī′tals, the interior organs essential for life: the part of any whole necessary for its existence.—n. Vītā′tiveness (phrenol.), the love of life, a faculty assigned to a protuberance under the ear.—Vital force, the principle of life in animals and plants; Vital functions, power, ability to continue living; Vital principle, that principle on which the life of an organism is thought to depend; Vital statistics, a division of statistics dealing with the facts and problems concerning population. [L. vitalis—vita, life—vivĕre, to live; cog. with Gr. bios, life.]