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Zealous vs Overzealousness - What's the difference?

zealous | overzealousness |

As an adjective zealous

is full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.

As a noun overzealousness is

the quality of being too zealous.

zealous

English

Alternative forms

* zelous

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.
  • * 1791 , , volume 1, page 238:
  • Johnson was truly zealous for the success of "The Adventurer;" and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter:
  • * 1896 , , A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (2004 edition), page 122:
  • Doubtless many will exclaim against the Roman Catholic Church for this; but the simple truth is that Protestantism was no less zealous against the new scientific doctrine.
  • * 1940 , Foster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Play: A history of popular recreation, 1607-1940 , page 61:
  • and there were few more zealous dancers at the fashionable balls in the Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg.
  • * 2011 April 4, " Newt Gingrich," Time (retrieved 9 Sept 2013):
  • Newt Gingrich . . . left Congress in 1998, following GOP midterm-election losses that many blamed on his zealous pursuit of Bill Clinton's impeachment.

    Synonyms

    * (full of zeal) ardent, eager, enthusiastic, fervent, passionate, zealotic

    Antonyms

    * (full of zeal) apathetic, dispassionate, indifferent, unenthusiastic

    Derived terms

    * overzealous * zealously * zealousness

    overzealousness

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • The quality of being too zealous
  • *{{quote-news, 2009, January 8, Nicholas D. Kristof, The Gaza Boomerang, New York Times citation
  • , passage=Many Gazans scorn Fatah as corrupt and incompetent, and they dislike Hamas's overzealousness and repression. }}