zealot
Americannoun
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a person who shows zeal.
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an excessively zealous person; fanatic.
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(initial capital letter) a member of a radical, warlike, ardently patriotic group of Jews in Judea, particularly prominent from a.d. 69 to 81, advocating the violent overthrow of Roman rule and vigorously resisting the efforts of the Romans and their supporters to heathenize the Jews.
noun
noun
Related Words
See fanatic.
Other Word Forms
- underzealot noun
Etymology
Origin of zealot
First recorded in 1400–50; earlier zelote from Late Latin zēlōtēs, from Greek zēlṓtēs, equivalent to zēlō- (variant stem of zēloûn “to be zealous”; zeal ) + -tēs agent suffix
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.
On top of that list was Aunt Lydia, the ruthless zealot in charge of the handmaids, played so powerfully by Ann Dowd.
From Los Angeles Times • May 13, 2025
A sort of penance, where by reading all the nasty comments under every post she assuages some of her guilt, as a zealot whips himself bloody to atone for sin?
From Slate • Jan. 31, 2024
Cleveland was a boyhood bluegrass zealot, not a prodigy.
From New York Times • Feb. 28, 2023
Witnesses have included his flabbergasted ex-wife, who testified that he morphed from a Brooklyn family man into a zealot.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 2, 2023
Blanche, on the other hand, glowed with the certainty of a zealot.
From "The Inquisitor's Tale" by Adam Gidwitz
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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.