vital signs

plural noun

1. essential body functions, comprising pulse rate, body temperature, and respiration, used as a measure of health or physical condition.

vital signs

plural noun

1. med indications that a person is still alive. Vital signs include a heartbeat, a pulse that can be felt, breathing, and body temperature

vital signs

1. The pulse rate, temperature, respiratory rate, and usually blood pressure of an individual.

vital signs

1. The pulse rate, blood pressure, body temperature, and rate of respiration of a person. The vital signs are usually measured to obtain a quick evaluation of the person's general physical condition.

Word History and Origins

Origin of vital signs¹

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

The Best Picture nominees, while wildly different in content and tone, share certain vital signs.

From The Daily Beast

Licensed practical nurses are essentially menial hospital workers who collect vital signs, change bedpans, and bathe patients.

From The Daily Beast

Suppose the next generation of gizmos not only track those vital signs but warn the crew when they see an imminent flat-liner?

From The Daily Beast

Swiftly and clinically Dal checked the vital signs as the old man watched him.

From Project Gutenberg

What were those “vital signs,” those proofs indubitable to Milton that he had the art and faculty of a poet?

From Project Gutenberg

He knew this, he says, by “certain vital signs” discernible in what he had already written.

From Project Gutenberg