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In the 1st century A.D., a fanatical sect arose in Judaea to oppose the Roman domination of Palestine. Known as the Zealots, they fought their most famous battle at the great fortress of Masada, where 1,000 defenders took their own lives just as the Romans were about to storm the fort. Over the years, zealot came to mean anyone who is passionately devoted to a cause. The adjective zealous may describe someone who's merely dedicated and energetic ("a zealous investigator", "zealous about combating inflation", etc.). But zealot (like its synonym fanatic) and zealotry (like its synonym fanaticism) are used disapprovingly—even while Jews everywhere still honor the memory of those who died at Masada.
Examples of zealot in a Sentence
Matthew Carey, Deadline, 21 June 2025
Masterpiece Theater Matthew Fraser November 30, 2022 Climate activist attacks on works by van Gogh, Vermeer, and other art world titans are the latest in a tradition of destruction that hearkens to the early Christian zealots.
—The Editors, JSTOR Daily, 22 Apr. 2025
The fearmongering from the fake news media and globalist zealots who espouse free markets but have seldom experienced one miss the mark on why President Trump is fighting for American manufacturing workers.
—Faisal Kutty, Newsweek, 10 Mar. 2025
Ten years ago this month, a 21-year-old misfit who imagined himself a white supremacist zealot walked casually through the unlocked door of the oldest African Methodist Episcopal Church in the South.
—Kevin Sack, Time, 3 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for zealot
Cite this Entry
“Zealot.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/zealot. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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zealot
noun
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