zestful
AmericanOther Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of zestful
Explanation
If someone is zestful, they're energetic and enthusiastic. Your zestful performance on the soccer field should earn you the title of Most Valuable Player! The noun zest has two meanings: the sour outer layer of peel on a citrus fruit or a passionate enthusiasm. The adjective zestful is used only in the second, more figurative way, to describe someone with true zeal or verve. A zestful response to an essay question will definitely get your teacher's attention, and a zestful audition may very well win you the role of Macbeth in your school's upcoming production.
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.
That’s all because we say that most of the interesting stuff is done by volunteerism and entrepreneurship and will, zestful building, not by the coercive powers of the state.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 7, 2026
Actress Angela Lansbury who stormed the New York stage in 1966 as the zestful, eccentric star of “Mame” and solved endless murders as crime novelist in the TV series “Murder, She Wrote,” died at 96.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 24, 2022
Maggy Hurchalla, 81, a zestful and adventuresome environmentalist who carved a reputation independent from her trailblazing sister, Janet Reno, the first female U.S. attorney general, died Feb. 19 at her home in Stuart, Florida.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 11, 2022
But with Rouvali softening the orchestra into intimacy, she brought characterful wit and zestful German to “Ich wollt ein Sträusslein binden” and “Säus’le, liebe Myrte!” and Zerbinetta-esque dexterity to “Amor.”
From New York Times ● Feb. 18, 2022
Professional theatre folk and amateurs especially are devoting zestful energy both to the writing and to the producing of this shorter form of drama.
From Contemporary One-Act Plays by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
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