ZEALOT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

• ZEALOT (noun)
  The noun ZEALOT has 2 senses:

1. a member of an ancient Jewish sect in Judea in the first century who fought to the death against the Romans and who killed or persecuted Jews who collaborated with the Romans

2. a fervent and even militant proponent of something

  Familiarity information: ZEALOT used as a noun is rare.

• ZEALOT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A member of an ancient Jewish sect in Judea in the first century who fought to the death against the Romans and who killed or persecuted Jews who collaborated with the Romans

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Zealot" is a kind of...):

Hebrew; Israelite; Jew (a person belonging to the worldwide group claiming descent from Jacob (or converted to it) and connected by cultural or religious ties)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A fervent and even militant proponent of something

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

drumbeater; partisan; zealot

Hypernyms ("zealot" is a kind of...):

advocate; advocator; exponent; proponent (a person who pleads for a cause or propounds an idea)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "zealot"):

bigot (a prejudiced person who is intolerant of any opinions differing from his own)

doctrinaire; dogmatist (a stubborn person of arbitrary or arrogant opinions)

 Context examples 

All men of talent, whether they be men of feeling or not; whether they be zealots, or aspirants, or despots—provided only they be sincere—have their sublime moments, when they subdue and rule.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“There are three methods, by which a man may rise to be chief minister. The first is, by knowing how, with prudence, to dispose of a wife, a daughter, or a sister; the second, by betraying or undermining his predecessor; and the third is, by a furious zeal, in public assemblies, against the corruptions of the court. But a wise prince would rather choose to employ those who practise the last of these methods; because such zealots prove always the most obsequious and subservient to the will and passions of their master. That these ministers, having all employments at their disposal, preserve themselves in power, by bribing the majority of a senate or great council; and at last, by an expedient, called an act of indemnity” (whereof I described the nature to him), “they secure themselves from after-reckonings, and retire from the public laden with the spoils of the nation.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)