vitality
1
9.8
- noun
- /vaɪˈtælɪti/
- Archaic
- Philosophers once debated whether vitality was a tangible energy that influenced the development of life.
Examples
-
These creatures had no soul but a naked vitality, higher than animals' but not yet human, flowing in from the earth and striving upwards.
Academic text (2001) -
The corpse must be separated from its nyui, its "vitality" or its "shadow."
Academic text (1993) -
The abstract symbols rob vitality from the human drama that was enacted on the local stage.
Academic text (1993) -
This pulse is Kazantzakis's feeling for life itself, to which Bergson ascribes spirit, vitality, movement, and intuition.
Academic text (1991) -
I saw strength of will revealed in a purely physical nature—vitality that transcended brutishness.
Fiction book (1998) -
If we ask that a painting or sculpture be an autonomous object—a thing with its own inherent vitality—it must also have some connection with the world it occupies.
Blog text (22) -
In ancient theories, vitality was believed to be the force driving the growth and evolution of living organisms.
-
Many traditions attribute a special kind of vitality to the natural world, which they believe is essential for biological growth.
Synonyms
37
8.8
An imagined energy that makes living things grow and move
1
9.9
A power once thought to make living things grow and stay alive
1
9.9
An imagined life force thought to make living things grow and work
A supposed life force that makes living things grow and change
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
In older science, vitality was used for a supposed 'vital force', an invisible power people thought made living things grow. Because the word comes from vita 'life', this older idea helps explain why 'vitality' can mean a life force even though modern science usually does not use that view.