Essential vs Vital - What's the difference?
essential | vital |
Necessary.
Very important; of high importance.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-05-17
, author=George Monbiot, authorlink=George Monbiot
, title=Money just makes the rich suffer
, volume=188, issue=23, page=19
, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
Being in the basic form; showing its essence.
Really existing; existent.
* Webster (1623)
Such that each complementary region is irreducible, the boundary of each complementary region is incompressible by disks and monogons in the complementary region, and no leaf is a sphere or a torus bounding a solid torus in the manifold.
(medicine) Idiopathic.
Relating to, or characteristic of life.
Necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends.
* Spenser
Invigorating or life-giving.
Necessary to continued existence.
Relating to the recording of life events.
Very important.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-12-14
, author=Simon Jenkins, authorlink=Simon Jenkins
, title=We mustn't overreact to North Korea boys' toys
, volume=188, issue=2, page=23
, date=2012-12-21
, magazine=
Containing life; living.
* Milton
* Alexander Pope
Capable of living; in a state to live; viable.
* Sir Thomas Browne
As adjectives the difference between essential and vital
is that essential is necessary while vital is relating to, or characteristic of life.As a noun essential
is a necessary ingredient.essential
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. […]}}
- Don’t mind him being grumpy. That’s the essential Fred.
- Is it true, that thou art but a name, / And no essential thing?
Synonyms
* indispensable, crucial, substantive * See alsoAntonyms
* inessential, unessential, accidental, nonessential, unneeded, adscititious, unimportant, accessorial, unnecessary, incidentalDerived terms
* essential amino acid * essential fatty acid * essential listening * essential nutrient * essential oil * essentially * essentialness * quintessentialvital
English
(wikipedia vital)Adjective
(en adjective)- vital''' energies; '''vital''' functions; '''vital actions
- The brain is a vital organ.
- Do the heavens afford him vital food?
- The transition to farming was vital for the creation of civilisation.
- Birth, marriage and death certificates are vital records.
- It is vital that you don't forget to do your homework.
citation, passage=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.}}
- spirits that live throughout, vital in every part
- The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part.
- Pythagoras and Hippocrates affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital .