zeal
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
- underzeal noun
- zealless adjective
Etymology
Origin of zeal
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English zele, from Late Latin zēlus “jealousy, rivalry,” from Greek zêlos
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.
Despite the Grinch’s anti-consumerist zeal, the market for his visage has exploded in recent years.
From Los Angeles Times
Samson’s self-sacrifice in defeating his Philistine enemies was used by Samuel Adams and others to illustrate the “zeal” of the Sons of Liberty.
Critics say that in its zeal to get its agenda into court, ADF has manufactured disputes.
The madcap zeal that Madame Pernelle brings to the stage only intermittently returns to the production.
Once I got through that ordeal—months of chemotherapy, a bone-marrow transplant—I took the task up again, this time with new zeal.
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.
