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.
Unwittingly, zealous regulators have turned stock markets into the casinos that commissioner Crenshaw deplores.
From Barron's
He has a zealous smile on his face, like he’s just been validated.
From Literature
Douglass noted the paradox: For abolitionists Lincoln seemed “tardy, cold, dull, and indifferent,” yet by the measure of public sentiment he was obliged to weigh, Lincoln proved “swift, zealous, radical, and determined.”
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
Lambasting his creative choices, and silently judging the one-hour-photo employee who calls his shots “pretty,” Scorsese good-naturedly mocked the zealous dedication he brought to his movies.
From Los Angeles Times
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.
