zealous

English

WOTD – 9 September 2011

Alternative forms

• zelous

Etymology

From Middle English zelose, from Latin zēlōsus,^[1] from zēlus + -ōsus, from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from ζηλόω (zēlóō, “to emulate, to be jealous”). By surface analysis, zeal +‎ -ous. Doublet of jealous.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /ˈzɛləs/, (obsolete) /ˈziːləs/^[2]

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ɛləs
• Hyphenation: zeal‧ous

Adjective

zealous (comparative more zealous, superlative most zealous)

1. Full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.
   • 1655 April 21, “Mr. Ja. Nutley to ſecreary Thurloe.”, in A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Eſq; […], volume III, London: […] the Executor of the late Mr. Fletcher Gyles; Thomas Woodward, […] Charles Davis, […], published 1742, page 399:

     I had almoſt forgotten to acquaint your honor, that one major Alford (who was in mr. Love's conſpiracy) was of the graund inqueſt at Saliſbury, and was very zealous in his highneſſe ſervice here, and his good affection and wiſe carriage here, did much advantage the buſſineſe.

   • 1791, James Boswell, “(please specify the year)”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], →OCLC:

     Johnson was truly zealous for the success of "The Adventurer;" and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter:

   • 1896, Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, published 2004, page 122:

     Doubtless many will exclaim against the Roman Catholic Church for this; but the simple truth is that Protestantism was no less zealous against the new scientific doctrine.

   • 1940, Foster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Play: A history of popular recreation, 1607-1940, page 61:

     […] and there were few more zealous dancers at the fashionable balls in the Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg.

   • 2011 April 4, “Newt Gingrich”, in Time, retrieved 9 Sept 2013:

     Newt Gingrich […] left Congress in 1998, following GOP midterm-election losses that many blamed on his zealous pursuit of Bill Clinton's impeachment.

Synonyms

• (full of zeal): ardent, eager, enthusiastic, fervent, passionate, zealotic

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “full of zeal”): apathetic, dispassionate, indifferent, unenthusiastic

Derived terms

Terms derived from zealous

• overzealous
• zealous witness
• zealously
• zealousness

Related terms

Terms etymologically related to zealous

• jealous
• zeal
• zealot
• zealotic
• zealotical
• zealotry

Translations

full of zeal; ardent

Afrikaans: ywerig Arabic: مُتَحَمِّس (mutaḥammis), حَمَاسِيّ (ar) (ḥamāsiyy) Armenian: եռանդուն (hy) (eṙandun), փութաջան (hy) (pʻutʻaǰan) Bulgarian: ревностен (bg) (revnosten), усърден (bg) (usǎrden) Cherokee: ᎤᏚᎩᎠᏓᏕᎵᏎᏗ (udugiadadelisedi) Chinese: Mandarin: 熱心／热心 (zh) (rèxīn) Cornish: diwysyk Czech: horlivý (cs) Danish: ivrig, entusiastisk Dutch: ijverig (nl), vlijtig (nl) Estonian: agar (et), innukas Finnish: intohimoinen (fi), innokas (fi) French: zélé (fr) Galician: celoso Georgian: გულმოდგინე (ka) (gulmodgine), გულანთებული (gulantebuli) German: eifrig (de), begeistert (de) Greek: Ancient: πρόθυμος (próthumos) Greenlandic: please add this translation if you can Hungarian: buzgó (hu) Icelandic: please add this translation if you can Ido: zelanta, zeloza (io) Interlingua: zelose Italian: zelante (it) Japanese: 熱心な (ja) (ねっしんな, nesshin-na) Korean: please add this translation if you can Kurdish: Central Kurdish: پەروەر (perwer) Latin: studiōsus (la), ardēns, ācer (la) Lithuanian: pavydus Maori: ngākaunui, whiwhita, whitawhita, ngangahau Norwegian: engasjert (no), ivrig, nidkjær (no), flittig Polish: zagorzały (pl), żarliwy (pl), zapamiętały Portuguese: zeloso (pt) Russian: рья́ный (ru) (rʹjányj), усе́рдный (ru) (usérdnyj), ре́вностный (ru) (révnostnyj) Scots: guidwillt Scottish Gaelic: dian, dealasach Serbo-Croatian: gorljiv (sh) Slovene: please add this translation if you can Spanish: celoso (es), ferviente (es) Sranan Tongo: fayafaya Swedish: ivrig (sv), hänförd (sv), entusiastisk (sv), nitisk (sv), hängiven (sv) Tagalog: salurapa Thai: กระตือรือร้น (th) (grà-dtʉʉ-rʉʉ-rón) Tocharian B: spelkkessu Welsh: selog (cy)

References

1. “zealous, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
2. Grandgent, C. H. (1899) “From Franklin to Lowell”, in James W. Bright, editor, Proceedings of the Modern Language Association‎, volume 14, number 2, Modern Language Association of America, →DOI, page 238