useless vs vital

useless

adj
  • Unable to do well at a particular task or thing. Useless is mildly insulting. 

  • Without use or possibility to be used. 

  • Good-for-nothing; not dependable. 

  • Unhelpful, not useful; pointless (of an action). 

vital

adj
  • Invigorating or life-giving. 

  • Very important. 

  • Containing life; living. 

  • Necessary to continued existence. 

  • Necessary to the continuation of life; being the seat of life; being that on which life depends. 

  • Capable of living; in a state to live; viable. 

  • Relating to the recording of life events. 

  • Relating to, or characteristic of life. 

How often have the words useless and vital occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )