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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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.
The proposal -- echoing the restaurant shorthand "86" for an item that is off the menu -- pits zealous reformers against vested interests, with an electorate knowing little about the issue.
From Barron's ● Sep. 28, 2026
That said, while I’m zealous about the form, I’m not remotely legalistic about it.
From Salon ● Sep. 6, 2026
They are ready for "zealous representation" by the defence, he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 31, 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
After that, ten times more zealous, I planted beans and sweet potatoes, brinjals and chillies, and they all grew well under my hand, so that we ate even better than we had done before.
From "Nectar in a Sieve" by Kamala Markandaya
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
