ZEALOT Synonyms: 59 Similar and Opposite Words

zealot

noun

ˈze-lət

Definition of zealot

as in partisan

one who is intensely or excessively devoted to a cause zealots on both sides of the issue resorted to name-calling and scare tactics

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of zealot Bo-Katan explains the Mandalorians who raised Din and taught him to never show his face are religious zealots known as the Children of the Watch, who broke from Mandalorian society. — Brendan Morrow, USA Today, 16 May 2026 The software, known as Model Capability Initiative, or MCI, suddenly turned people across the company into privacy zealots, a legal staffer says. — Paresh Dave, Wired News, 14 May 2026 In Spanish, the line is gendered, as any bilingual Alcaraz zealot may point out. — José Criales-Unzueta, Vanity Fair, 12 May 2026 Blending a tense crime thriller structure with absurdist, deadpan humor, the film follows a right-wing zealot who travels to a sleep rural town to assassinate a progressive woman journalist – but runs into a series of darkly comic encounters along the way. — Liz Shackleton, Deadline, 12 May 2026 See All Example Sentences for zealot

Recent Examples of Synonyms for zealot

Noun

Exhibited for the first time outside of Sarajevo, the churning Socialist Realist homage invokes Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People in figuring partisans heroically overcoming their would-be Nazi aggressors.

— Ara H. Merjian, ARTnews.com, 10 July 2026
Reynolds tracks the willingness of northern partisans—Carl Schurz, Horace Greeley, Lyman Trumbull, and even Sumner himself—to abandon that cause by the dwindling references to Jamestown and Plymouth.

— James Traub, The Atlantic, 28 June 2026

Definition of partisan

Noun

Mali’s junta has accused Algeria of backing local extremist rebels who are linked to the Muslim militant group al-Qaida.

— ABC News, ABC News, 11 July 2026
In that environment, Hezbollah emerged from a network of Shiite Islamist militants, making its dramatic entry into the war by attacking an Israel military base in 1982.

— Anthony Wanis-St John, The Conversation, 10 July 2026

Definition of militant

Noun

But in this case, Kamdang said, Patriot Front members faced no criminal charges and their identities were only revealed when online activists later infiltrated the group and leaked internal records.

— Odette Yousef, NPR, 11 July 2026
News of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo’s death ricocheted across the city, galvanizing protesters and triggering a gut-wrenching sense of deja vu for activists across the country.

— Alicia Victoria Lozano, NBC news, 11 July 2026

Definition of activist

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zeal

zealot

zealotry

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“Zealot.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/zealot. Accessed 18 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of zealot

noun

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