zeal
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ziːl/
ipa: /zil/
rhymes: -iːl
Forms: form: zeals
Etymology: From Middle English zele, from Old French zel, from Late Latin zēlus, from Ancient Greek ζῆλος (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- (“to search”). Related to jealous.
Senses: examples: text: She extols the virtues of veganism with missionary zeal.
text: I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Romans 10:2:
text: Zeal, the blind conductor of the will
ref: 1687, [John Dryden], “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 96:
text: […] the highest zeal in religion and the deepest hypocrisy, so far from being inconsistent, are often or commonly united in the same individual character.
ref: 1779, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, part 12, pages 143–144:
text: [He] would begin admiring her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge as seemed terribly like a would-be lover,
ref: 1815 December (indicated as 1816), [Jane Austen], chapter 14, in Emma: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [Charles Roworth and James Moyes] for John Murray, →OCLC, page 250:
text: It [Troutbeck] has religious isolation also, for it is several miles—and very strenuous miles in winter—from the parish church at Mungrisdale, and the introduction of the harmonium to the waiting room was due to the zeal of a vicar of many years ago who, in the absence of any other room in the village, obtained permission to use the premises for services, including Sunday School. Most of his successors have continued this self-sacrificing duty.
ref: 1951 October, “Notes and News: The Harmonium at Troutbeck”, in Railway Magazine, page 709:
text: The stockman’s zeal for eliminating the coyote has resulted in plagues of field mice, which the coyote formerly controlled.
ref: 1962, Rachel Carson, chapter 15, in Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, page 248:
synonyms: ardour
eagerness
enthusiasm
intensity
passion
antonyms: apathy
glosses: The fervour or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.
examples: text: […] like a malicious purblinde zeale as thou art!
ref: 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, London: Robert Allot, act v, scene 5, page 85:
text: […] there are questionlesse both in Greeke, Roman and Africa Churches, solemnities, and ceremonies, whereof the wiser zeales doe make a Christian use, and stand condemned by us;
ref: 1642, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, London: Andrew Crooke, page 5:
synonyms: zealot
glosses: A person who exhibits such fervour or tireless devotion.
examples: text: A zeal of zebras confuses predators. Each zebra has a different set of stripes.
ref: 2012, Alex Kuskowski, Zeal of Zebras: Animal Groups on an African Safari, →ISBN, page 8:
text: Zebras can also be called a herd or a zeal.
ref: 2019 June 6, “A gaggle, a confusion and a conspiracy - bizarre animal collective group names”, in BBC:
synonyms: dazzle
herd
glosses: A group of zebras.
Related terms: jealous
jealousy
missionary zeal
zealot
zealotic
zealotical
zealotry
zealous
zealously
zealousness
zeal without knowledge is a runaway horse