Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Enthusiastic devotion to a cause, ideal, or goal and tireless diligence in its furtherance. See Synonyms at passion.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Passionate ardor in the pursuit of anything; intense interest or endeavor; eagerness to accomplish or obtain some object.
- n. Synonyms Earnestness, Enthusiasm, etc. (see eagerness), warmth, fervor, heartiness, energy.
- To entertain zeal; be zealous.
Wiktionary
- n. The fervor or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Passionate ardor in the pursuit of anything; eagerness in favor of a person or cause; ardent and active interest; engagedness; enthusiasm; fervor.
- n. obsolete A zealot.
- v. Obs. & R. To be zealous.
WordNet 3.0
- n. prompt willingness
- n. a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause)
- n. excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end
Etymologies
- First coined in 1382, from Middle English zele, from Old French zel, from Late Latin zēlus, from Ancient Greek ζήλος (zēlos, "zeal, jealousy"), from ζηλόω (zēloō, "to emulate, to be jealous"). Cognate to jealous. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English zele, from Old French zel, from Late Latin zēlus, from Greek zēlos. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“And this also is that which they call zeal for the glory of God, and the honour of Christ!”
“That which we call zeal for God is almost quite lost among us.”
“Yet we are faced today with the sad reality that our untempered zeal is a sign of immaturity.”
Todd Bentley event cancelled; plus Debating the Lakeland Outpouring’s legacy
“One thing that I have done and may do again, God willing, with more zeal is have a booth at local events to give out free information on the importance of being a round-the-clock wife and mother and related subjects.”
“In every Moore crowd an undercurrent of messianic zeal is detectable, and here a few zealots buttonholed passersby, animated by communist infiltrations and dark tidings of the Bavarian Illuminati.”
“When He that bowed the Heavens came to save sinners, Zacchaeus, great in zeal, but little of stature, beheld the Tree of Life from in the sycamore; lifted above the earth, he saw Jesus, Who called him: coming down in lowliness, he repenting, received Him; and so salvation came into his house, and he was shown forth a true son of Abraham.”
“Joshua Green writes, "In every Moore crowd an undercurrent of messianic zeal is detectable, and here a few zealots buttonholed passersby, animated by communist infiltrations and dark tidings of the Bavarian Illuminati.”
“An enemy who employs 4GW tactics views whatever action he takes as one prong of a sustained campaign in the ser-vice of a political objective (and a political objective, despite all the focus on the bin Laden organization's religious zeal, is something bin Laden has).”
“The new municipals wished to surpass the former ones in zeal, and this zeal was emulation of tyranny.”
“The scheme was to get me in an insane asylum, and they wished to increase my insanity as they called my zeal, so as to have me out of their way, for I was calling too much attention to their lawlessness, at this time, when it might prove disastrous to their plots.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘zeal’.
-
Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
-
Public List: Two by Fives
This is an experiment in public lists--something I've been thinking about for some time. The goal is to create a collection of short, powerful, evocative words.
This is an open list. A...icy, howl, hymn, thorn, fire, vile, mist, blunt, scum, dark, shot, gleam and 221 more...
-
GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
-
EN - pronunciation fun
All words of the poem
The Chaos
by Gerard Nolst Trenité
Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse <...abyss, ache, actual, advice, aerie, age, ague, aisles, alas, alien, alive, allowed and 406 more...
-
RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
-
RELI - words you immediately associat...
advent, almighty, altar, anoint, apostle, archangel, ark, Balaam, baptism, baptist, baptize, begotten and 341 more...
-
Words For Novel (Part 2)
fable, sprite, syphilitic, anvil, wonderstruck, vertigo, bridled, tufted, fettered, savvy, tweed fedora, tryst and 255 more...
-
GRE
predilection, explicit, appeal, supplication, appealing, enchanting, ovation, pertinent, apropos, opportunely, applicable, germane and 381 more...
-
select words
luminous, radiant, malicious, zeal, ojalá, voluptuary, rubbish, purlicue, consarnit, upstart, precis, robinsonade and 66 more...
-
GRE prep
Words I've studying in preparation for the GRE exam
zeal, opaque, fervid, erudite, equivocal, ethereal, assuage, placate, prodigal, precipitate, anomaly
-
animal group
Names for Groups of Animals.
clever madeupicals and human groups are fine.
( open list, randomness )
also see:
swarm, herd, flock, group, pack, school, shoal, click, gang, army, colony, tribe and 63 more... -
position (dynamic)
( descriptive )
more:
http://www.wordnik.com/lists/static
even more:
charismatic, lively, animated, shifting, permeate, wobble, shimmer, sparkle, flex, pizzazz, chaos, fractal and 42 more... -
essbunny@gmail.com's list
Intrigued by these words...
sphincter, blush, flume, shingle, spurt, pulp, precious, squeal, zest, zeal, cherish, fervor and 35 more...
-
GRE Readings
conclusive, derivative, conviction, affected, ample, defiance, bid, conception, demean, converse, compliance, base and 133 more...
-
maf
sectarian, sectarian =narrow..., oppression, oppress, sort out, worldwide, legit, constrain, constrained, I feel constrained, constraint, divisive and 56 more...
-
to memorize
words i need to memorize
aberrant, abscond, advocate, aggrandize, amalgamate, ambiguous, ambrosial, anomalous, antediluvian, antipathy, arbitrate, assuage and 163 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for zeal.
bilby I don't eat meat. Feb 19, 2011
Kristianto2010 In her zeal to prepare a meal for us, she cut her index finger deeply. Feb 18, 2011