Zeal

//zil// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The fervour or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest. countable, uncountable

    "She extols the virtues of veganism with missionary zeal."

  2. 2
    prompt willingness wordnet
  3. 3
    A person who exhibits such fervour or tireless devotion. countable, obsolete, uncountable

    "[…] like a malicious purblinde zeale as thou art!"

  4. 4
    excessive fervor to do something or accomplish some end wordnet
  5. 5
    A group of zebras. collective, countable, uncountable

    "A zeal of zebras confuses predators. Each zebra has a different set of stripes."

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  1. 6
    a feeling of strong eagerness (usually in favor of a person or cause) wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
ardorardoureagernesseagernessenthusiasmfervor

Antonyms

All antonyms
apathy

Example

More examples

"Zeal for your house will consume me."

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.

Related phrases

collective nounvery interestedvigorous pursuit

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.