zealous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
- nonzealous adjective
- nonzealously adverb
- nonzealousness noun
- underzealous adjective
- underzealously adverb
- underzealousness noun
- unzealous adjective
- unzealously adverb
- zealously adverb
- zealousness noun
Etymology
Origin of zealous
First recorded in 1520–30; from Medieval Latin zēlōsus; zeal, -ous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Whereas Altman can be seen as a wheeler-dealer, racing to cut big deals to grow fast, Amodei staked out a comparably measured position—almost academic or, some might say, zealous.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026
Unwittingly, zealous regulators have turned stock markets into the casinos that commissioner Crenshaw deplores.
From Barron's • Jan. 2, 2026
Ludwig II of Bavaria was a zealous aesthete with enough personal wealth to treat part of what is now Germany as an architectural canvas.
From Salon • Jun. 22, 2025
And yet he was so not zealous about this perfect past.
From Slate • May 9, 2025
But her ghost was thrust aside by the ghost of a man who looked like a monk: thin and pale, with dark, zealous eyes even in his death.
From "The Amber Spyglass" by Philip Pullman
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
