zealous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of zealous
First recorded in 1520–30; from Medieval Latin zēlōsus; see origin at zeal, -ous
Explanation
Use the adjective zealous as a way to describe eagerness or enthusiastic activity. If you are too zealous in your efforts to decorate the house with Christmas lights, you might cause a power outage for the whole neighborhood. Zealous is the adjective for the noun zeal, "eager partisanship"; the latter has a long e, but zealous has a short one: ZEL-uhs. It can have a slightly negative connotation, and people are sometimes described as overzealous, meaning they try too hard. Zealous rhymes with jealous (and in fact they both derive from the same Greek word), but don't confuse them: a jealous person might be resentful of someone who makes zealous efforts to achieve success.
Vocabulary lists containing zealous
"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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The New SAT: Words to Capture Tone
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100 Words to Make You Sound Smart
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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.
Chronologically speaking, this is the first time in Elle’s life that her rosy outlook and zealous reverence for Cosmopolitan are powerless to melt the Seattle freeze.
From Salon • Jul. 6, 2026
Leaving it to another day to lay out guideposts for data-related warrants risked leaving Americans’ privacy to the tender mercies of zealous law enforcement and profit-minded corporations.
From Slate • Jul. 1, 2026
Who knows what might have happened if an ordinary pol like Harding, rather than the zealous brainiac Hoover, had been president in 1929.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 17, 2026
He painted this one of the heiress to Hunt Wesson Foods and her husband, a zealous art fan, shortly after creating another well-known double portrait of Isherwood and Bachardy.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
He has a zealous smile on his face, like he’s just been validated.
From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer
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.
