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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

zeal.

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

4 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ziːl/UK/zil/US
  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. A person who exhibits such fervour or tireless devotion.

    countable · obsolete · uncountable
  3. A group of zebras.

    collective · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

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.

noun/ziːl/UK/zil/US
  1. A light zomp.

    uncommon · uncountable
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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.