There are various synonyms for the word "vital" such as crucial, essential, important, necessary, significant, imperative, critical, indispensable, key, fundamental, and requisite. These synonyms indicate the importance and necessity of something within an overall context. The word "important" suggests something of high significance, whereas "essential" and "crucial" point towards the necessity of something. Similarly, "critical" signifies a high level of importance to something, and "indispensable" and "requisite" both indicate something that is absolutely necessary for a specific purpose. Thus, the choice of synonym would depend on the context, but all of them signify some degree of importance of something.