vital signs

English

Noun

vital signs pl (plural only)

1. (medicine) A set of measurements of a patient's condition taken regularly to assess the state of bodily functions: CSM, skin signs, lung sounds, temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiration.

   Synonym: vitals

   • 2004, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, Tré Cool, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, in American Idiot‎^[1], performed by Green Day:

     Read between the lines / What's fucked up, and everything's alright / Check my vital signs / To know I'm still alive, and I walk alone

2. (by extension) A set of variables or characteristics that indicate the general condition of something.

   the vital signs of the economy

   • 2019 October 23, Hayley Quinn, Paisley Gilmour, “An essential guide to 'zombieing' - the dating trend that's worse than ghosting”, in Cosmopolitan‎^[2]:

     We met in a pub and spoke for hours. We went through two bottles of red wine and a couple of pizzas. We had a kiss as the bus stop, and messaged as soon as we both got home. Good vital signs right? Wrong.

Translations

set of measurements of a patient's condition

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 生命跡象／生命迹象 (zh) (shēngmìng jìxiàng), 生命徵象／生命征象 (zh) (shēngmìng zhēngxiàng), 生命體徵／生命体征 (shēngmìng tǐzhēng)

• Finnish: elintoiminnot pl, vitaaliparametrit pl
• Spanish: constantes vitales f pl

See also

• sign of life