different between vigorous vs healthful

English

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman vigrus, from Old French vigoros (French vigoureux), from Medieval Latin vigorosus, from Latin vigor. Doublet of vigoroso.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?v?????s/
• Rhymes: -?????s

Adjective

vigorous (comparative more vigorous, superlative most vigorous)

1. Physically strong and active.
   • 1976, Joni Mitchell, "Song for Sharon":

     Now there are twenty-nine skaters on Wollman Rink

     Circling in singles and in pairs

     In this vigorous anonymity

2. Mentally strong and active.
3. Rapid of growth.

   a vigorous shrub

Translations

English

Alternative forms

• healthfull (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English helthful, helþful, helþeful, equivalent to health +? -ful.

Adjective

healthful (comparative healthfuller or more healthful, superlative healthfullest or most healthful)

1. Beneficial to bodily health.
   • 1906, Princeton Alumni Weekly (volume 7, page 210)

     Hockey is an exciting and healthful form of exercise, well suited to college students […]

2. Conducive to moral or spiritual prosperity; salutary.
   • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Folio Society 2008, p. 30:

     As he had been thinking for months about leaving his wife and had not done it because it would be too cruel to deprive her of himself, her departure was a very healthful shock.

Synonyms

• healthy
• salubrious
• salutary
• wholesome

Usage notes

When a clearer distinction is intended, healthy is used to describe the state of the object, and healthful describes its ability to impart health to the recipient. Vegetables in good condition are both healthy (i.e., not rotten or diseased) and healthful (i.e., they improve the eaters' health, compared to eating junk food). By contrast, a poisonous plant can be healthy, but it is not healthful to eat of.

Derived terms

• healthfully
• healthfulness

Related terms

• heal
• health
• healthy

Translations