zealous
Syllables: zeal·ousUK/ˈzɛləs/
zealous adjective: full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion, particularly in matters of religion.
Adjective
zealous (comparative more zealous or (uncommon, nonstandard) zealouser, superlative most zealous or (uncommon, nonstandard) zealousest)
- Full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion, particularly in matters of religion.
- They neuer paſſe for the procuring of Gods honor, neither regard they how much they be bound vnto him. But euery man in the meane ſeaſon followes his owne likings. One burnes in couetouſneſſe, and another in vaine glorie, ſeeking to be aduaunced to authoritie and honour, and to bee taken to be I...1583, Iohn Calvin, translated by Arthur Golding, “On Wednesday the xxj. of August. 1555. The Threescore Sermon, Which Is the Third vpon the Eight Chapter.”, in The Sermons of M. Iohn Calvin vpon the...
- 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.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...
- Synonyms:
- ardent, eager, enthusiastic, fervent, passionate, vehement, zealotic
- Antonyms:
- apathetic, dispassionate, indifferent, unenthusiastic
zealous meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Kannada
zealous in Hindi
- full of zeal; ardent
- उत्साही utsāhī
zealous in Urdu
- جوشیلا, کٹر پیرو, لگن والا, پرجوش, سرگرم, شائق
zealous in Malayalam
- തീക്ഷ്ണതയുളള, അത്യാസക്തമായ, ആവേശമുള്ള
zealous in Kannada
- ಉತ್ಸಾಹಯುತ, ಶ್ರದ್ಧೆಯುಳ್ಳ, ಉತ್ಸಾಹಿಯಾದ, ಹುರುಪುಳ್ಳ, ಕಡಗುವ, ಕೊಸರುವ
More languagesFewer languages
- zealous in Pashto
- مجتهد mujtahíd
- zealous in Tagalog
- salurapa
- zealous in Arabic
- مُتَحَمِّس mutaḥammis, حَمَاسِيّ ḥamāsiyy
- zealous in Thai
- กระตือรือร้น grà-dtʉʉ-rʉʉ-rón, กระเหี้ยนกระหือรือ
Examples of zealous in a sentence
- Thus ye ſee at what point they bee, which will needes be taken to bee greateſt and zealouſeſt Chriſtians.1583, Iohn Calvin, translated by Arthur Golding, “On Wednesday the xxj. of August. 1555. The Threescore Sermon, Which Is the Third vpon the...
- Johnſon was truly zealous for the ſucceſs of "The Adventurer;" and very ſoon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter […]1791, James Boswell, “[1753]”, in James Boswell, editor, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for...
- 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.1896, Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, published 2004, page 122:
- Newt Gingrich […] left Congress in 1998, following GOP midterm-election losses that many blamed on his zealous pursuit of Bill Clinton's impeachment.2011 April 4, “Newt Gingrich”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 20 Jul 2014:
Synonyms of zealous
Antonyms
Forms of zealous
| comparative | more zealous |
|---|---|
| superlative | most zealous |
| comparative uncommon (nonstandard) | zealouser |
| superlative uncommon (nonstandard) | zealousest |
| alternative form (obsolete) | zelous |
Origin of zealous
From Middle English zelose, from Latin zēlōsus, 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.
Words formed from zealous
Phrases with zealous
Words that rhyme with zealous
Questions about zealous
- What does zealous mean?
- Zealous means full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion, particularly in matters of religion.
- What is zealous in Hindi?
- Zealous in Hindi is उत्साही (utsāhī). See Zealous meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use zealous in a sentence?
- Thus ye ſee at what point they bee, which will needes be taken to bee greateſt and zealouſeſt Chriſtians.
- What part of speech is zealous?
- Zealous is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce zealous?
- Zealous is pronounced /ˈzɛləs/ (UK).
Words near zealous in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: zealous (page history and authors); zealous (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); zealous (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); zealous (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); مجتهد (Pashto) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-zealous.ogg, en-au-zealous.ogg.
Cite this entry: “zealous.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zealous. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.