vital sign
1
3.6
- noun
- /ˈvaɪtəl saɪn/
:
indicador clave
- - Vital sign changes?
Examples
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The room is dominated by ten enormous overhead viewscreens, each monitoring the activity of one of the ten machine candidates while also displaying telemetry readouts of their vital signs.
Fiction book (1997) -
He's launched a good "vital signs" report to track progress and set up a very specific checklist of issues he would tackle this year.
Blog text (6) -
In the process, they spawned several genres that still show vital signs of life and no sign of slowing down.
Blog text (30) -
These are vital signs that Africa is alive and well, that creativity does not cease with urbanization or even with civil strife or pandemics, and that modernity and artistic ingenuity go hand in hand.
Academic text (2005) -
The company's vital signs suggest it is thriving in a competitive market.
-
Investors often analyze various vital signs of the economy to predict future growth.
-
Following the latest report, the community's vital signs show clear improvement in job creation.
How Indicative
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'a key indicator of health or performance' is directly derivable from combining 'vital' (essential, necessary) with 'sign' (an indicator or signal). This adjective+noun composition follows standard compositional patterns and has clear cross-linguistic parallels, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
The noun vital sign is used in non-medical situations when people imagine a company or system like a body with a 'heartbeat' or 'pulse' measured by numbers such as uptime or sales. Because vital means 'life' and sign is a signal to watch, these numbers show the system's 'health'.