vital capacity

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noun Physiology.

the greatest amount of air that can be forced from the lungs after maximum inhalation.

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Origin of vital capacity

First recorded in 1850–55

Words nearby vital capacity

visual violet, visuospatial, vita, vitaceous, vital, vital capacity, vital force, vital function, Vitalian, vitalism, vitality

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use vital capacity in a sentence

In the classic skillset of piloting, mental acuity, and its coordination with hand and foot movements, is equally vital.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Specifically, the pilots got themselves into a high altitude stall, where the wings lose the capacity to provide lift.
Flight 8501 Poses Question: Are Modern Jets Too Automated to Fly?|Clive Irving|January 4, 2015|DAILY BEAST
It is all too easy to be despondent in the face of what seems like the endless capacity of evil to reinvent itself.
The Catholic Philosopher Who Took on Hitler|John Henry Crosby|December 26, 2014|DAILY BEAST
His ups and downs professionally outside of the World Cup are a vital a part of his story in the book.
Tim Howard’s Wall of Intensity|William O’Connor|December 22, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Foxx says that he thinks this generation has the capacity to keep pushing through racial barriers.
Jamie Foxx: Get Over the Black ‘Annie’|Stereo Williams|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST
To make the effort of articulation a vital impulse in response to a mental concept,—this is the object sought.
Expressive Voice Culture|Jessie Eldridge Southwick
Wasn't the dead man stretched in the shadow convincing proof of their capacity for pure devilishness?
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair
This widening grasp of languages is or was within the capacity of nearly everyone born into the world—given the facilities.
The Salvaging Of Civilisation|H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
Here and there exceptional industry or extraordinary capacity raised the artisan to wealth and turned the "man" into the "master."
The Unsolved Riddle of Social Justice|Stephen Leacock
There was a while when I developed a marvelous capacity for dodging invitations to Fort Walsh.
Raw Gold|Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for vital capacity

vital capacity

noun

physiol the volume of air that can be exhaled from the lungs after the deepest possible breath has been taken: a measure of lung function

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for vital capacity

vital capacity

[ vīt′l ]

The maximum amount of air that can be expelled from the lungs after breathing in as deeply as possible.