Definition of Vital force. Meaning of Vital force. Synonyms of Vital force

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Definition of Vital force

Vital force
Vital Vi"tal, a. [F., fr. L. vitalis, fr. vita life; akin to vivere to live. See Vivid.] 1. Belonging or relating to life, either animal or vegetable; as, vital energies; vital functions; vital actions. 2. Contributing to life; necessary to, or supporting, life; as, vital blood. Do the heavens afford him vital food? --Spenser. And vital virtue infused, and vital warmth. --Milton. 3. Containing life; living. ``Spirits that live throughout, vital in every part.' --Milton. 4. Being the seat of life; being that on which life depends; mortal. The dart flew on, and pierced a vital part. --Pope. 5. Very necessary; highly important; essential. A competence is vital to content. --Young. 6. Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. [R.] Pythagoras and Hippocrates . . . affirm the birth of the seventh month to be vital. --Sir T. Browne. Vital air, oxygen gas; -- so called because essential to animal life. [Obs.] Vital capacity (Physiol.), the breathing capacity of the lungs; -- expressed by the number of cubic inches of air which can be forcibly exhaled after a full inspiration. Vital force. (Biol.) See under Force. The vital forces, according to Cope, are nerve force (neurism), growth force (bathmism), and thought force (phrenism), all under the direction and control of the vital principle. Apart from the phenomena of consciousness, vital actions no longer need to be considered as of a mysterious and unfathomable character, nor vital force as anything other than a form of physical energy derived from, and convertible into, other well-known forces of nature. Vital functions (Physiol.), those functions or actions of the body on which life is directly dependent, as the circulation of the blood, digestion, etc. Vital principle, an immaterial force, to which the functions peculiar to living beings are ascribed. Vital statistics, statistics respecting the duration of life, and the circumstances affecting its duration. Vital tripod. (Physiol.) See under Tripod. Vital vessels (Bot.), a name for latex tubes, now disused. See Latex.
Vital force
Force Force, n. [F. force, LL. forcia, fortia, fr. L. fortis strong. See Fort, n.] 1. Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term. He was, in the full force of the words, a good man. --Macaulay. 2. Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion. Which now they hold by force, and not by right. --Shak. 3. Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; -- an armament; troops; warlike array; -- often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation. Is Lucius general of the forces? --Shak. 4. (Law) (a) Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things; violence. (b) Validity; efficacy. --Burrill. 5. (Physics) Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force. Animal force (Physiol.), muscular force or energy. Catabiotic force [Gr. ? down (intens.) + ? life.] (Biol.), the influence exerted by living structures on adjoining cells, by which the latter are developed in harmony with the primary structures. Centrifugal force, Centripetal force, Coercive force, etc. See under Centrifugal, Centripetal, etc. Composition of forces, Correlation of forces, etc. See under Composition, Correlation, etc. Force and arms [trans. of L. vi et armis] (Law), an expression in old indictments, signifying violence. In force, or Of force, of unimpaired efficacy; valid; of full virtue; not suspended or reversed. ``A testament is of force after men are dead.' --Heb. ix. 17. Metabolic force (Physiol.), the influence which causes and controls the metabolism of the body. No force, no matter of urgency or consequence; no account; hence, to do no force, to make no account of; not to heed. [Obs.] --Chaucer. Of force, of necessity; unavoidably; imperatively. ``Good reasons must, of force, give place to better.' --Shak. Plastic force (Physiol.), the force which presumably acts in the growth and repair of the tissues. Vital force (Physiol.), that force or power which is inherent in organization; that form of energy which is the cause of the vital phenomena of the body, as distinguished from the physical forces generally known. Syn: Strength; vigor; might; energy; stress; vehemence; violence; compulsion; coaction; constraint; coercion. Usage: Force, Strength. Strength looks rather to power as an inward capability or energy. Thus we speak of the strength of timber, bodily strength, mental strength, strength of emotion, etc. Force, on the other hand, looks more to the outward; as, the force of gravitation, force of circumstances, force of habit, etc. We do, indeed, speak of strength of will and force of will; but even here the former may lean toward the internal tenacity of purpose, and the latter toward the outward expression of it in action. But, though the two words do in a few cases touch thus closely on each other, there is, on the whole, a marked distinction in our use of force and strength. ``Force is the name given, in mechanical science, to whatever produces, or can produce, motion.' --Nichol. Thy tears are of no force to mollify This flinty man. --Heywood. More huge in strength than wise in works he was. --Spenser. Adam and first matron Eve Had ended now their orisons, and found Strength added from above, new hope to spring Out of despair. --Milton.

Meaning of Vital force from wikipedia

- vitalist Henri Bergson), "vital force", or "vis vitalis", which some equate with the soul. In the 18th and 19th centuries, vitalism was discussed among biologists...
- manner. Élan vital was translated in the English edition as "vital impetus", but is usually translated by his detractors as "vital force".[citation needed]...
- be a vital force part of all living entities. Literally meaning 'vapor', 'air', or 'breath', the word qi is polysemous, often translated as 'vital energy'...
- somewhere within the body, in a special locality, there was a "vital spirit" or "vital force", which animated the whole bodily frame, just as the engine...
- the Sanskrit word for "life force" or "vital principle" Qi, a vital force in traditional Chinese philosophy Élan vital, a hypothetical explanation for...
- martial arts, prana (प्राण, prāṇa; the Sanskrit word for breath, "life force", or "vital principle") permeates reality on all levels including inanimate objects...
- of vital force. All the other things (forces) on Earth were created to enable human vital force (being) become stronger. All things have vital force but...
- Look up elan vital in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Elan Vital may refer to: Élan vital, translated as "vital impetus" or "vital force", a philosophical...
- Odic force (also called Od /oʊd/, Odyle, Önd, Odes, Odylic, Odyllic, or Odems) was a hypothetical vital energy or life force believed by some in the mid-19th...
- root referring to a concept of vital energy or "fertile time". The iuvenis is he who has the fullness of vital force. In some inscriptions Jupiter himself...