zealless, adj.

zealless
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zealless_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zeallessadjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zealless mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the adjective zealless. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the adjective zealless?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1790 | 0.0007
1800 | 0.0005
1810 | 0.0004
1820 | 0.0004
1830 | 0.0005
1840 | 0.0005
1850 | 0.0005
1860 | 0.0004
1870 | 0.0006
1880 | 0.0007
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0003
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.00006
1960 | 0.00001
1970 | 0.00002
1980 | 0.00003
1990 | 0.00004
2000 | 0.00004
2010 | 0.00004

### How is the adjective zealless pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈziːllᵻs/
ZEEL-luhss

#### U.S. English

/ˈzillᵻs/
ZEEL-luhss

### Where does the adjective zealless come from?

Earliest known use

late 1500s

The earliest known use of the adjective zealless is in the late 1500s.

OED's earliest evidence for zealless is from before 1594, in the writing of Richard Greenham, Church of England clergyman.

zealless is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zeal n., ‑less suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. Zealandish, adj. 1684–
2. zealator, n. a1464–
3. zeal-blind, adj. 1615–1898
4. zeal-consuming, adj. 1629–1882
5. zealed, adj. 1679–1903
6. zealer, n.?a1450–1673
7. zealful, adj. 1602–
8. zeal-inflamed, adj. 1648–
9. zealing, adj. 1459–1602
10. zealist, n. 1614–
11. zealless, adj.a1594–
12. zealot, n. & adj. a1400–
13. zealotic, adj. 1657–
14. zealotical, adj. 1630–
15. zealotism, n. 1645–
16. zealotist, n. & adj. 1593–
17. zealotry, n. 1653–
18. zealous, adj.?1495–
19. zealously, adv.?1495–
20. zealousness, n. c1555–
21. zealousy, n. 1542–

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
< zeal n. + ‑less suffix.

## Meaning & use

1. a1594–
   Lacking zeal; devoid of enthusiasm for or devotion to a cause, belief, undertaking, etc.
   1. a1594

      > We may call to mind..how many heretofore christians..are now become zealelesse worldlings.

      R. Greenham, Works (1612) 588
   2. 1613

      > O thou zealeless mortality.

      H. Spelman, De non temerandis Ecclesiis (1646) 30
   3. 1649

      > That heartlesse zeallesse behaviour in this very house of God.

      H. Hammond, Christians Obligations vii. 174
   4. 1844

      > Her missionaries are..not spiritless and zealless, but full of energy and hope.

      Morning Chronicle 31 May 5/3
   5. 1868

      > A zealless, loveless, lifeless worship of God.

      E. B. Pusey, Sermon Pharisaism 15
   6. 1946

      > The arguments of faithless and zeal-less Christians.

      E. A. Peers, Fool of Love vi. 95
   7. 2014

      > The world is filled with the living dead: joyless, passionless, zeal-less, lifeless Christians.

      L. Sweet, Well-Played Life Introduction 9
   1. cool Old English–
      Lacking in fervour or zeal, unenthusiastic; lacking heartiness or warmth of interest. Cf. cold, adj. II.7a, lukewarm, adj. A.2.
   2. luke 1340–
      = lukewarm, adj. A.2.
   3. tepid 1513–
      Moderately or slightly warm; lukewarm. figurative. = lukewarm, adj. A.2.
   4. lukewarm a1535–
      Of persons, their actions, attributes, etc.: Having little warmth or depth of feeling, lacking zeal, enthusiasm or ardour, indifferent.
   5. unearnest 1542–
      (un-, prefix¹ affix 1.)
   6. spiritless 1566–
      Marked or characterized by a lack of true faith; devoid of spiritual qualities. Now somewhat rare and coloured by other senses.
   7. zealless a1594–
      Lacking zeal; devoid of enthusiasm for or devotion to a cause, belief, undertaking, etc.
   8. faint 1596–
      Wanting in strength or vigour. Of actions, wishes, purposes: Half-hearted, languid, feeble.
   9. unfiery 1598–
      (un-, prefix¹ affix 1.)
   10. tepidous 1607
       Tepid, lukewarm (obsolete).
   11. Laodicean 1633–
       a. Of or pertaining to Laodicea. b. Having the fault for which the Church of Laodicea is reproached in Revelation 3:15, 16; hence, ‘lukewarm…
   12. heartless 1636–
       Of action, speech, etc.: lacking in enthusiasm or commitment; not heartfelt or zealous. Cf. half-hearted, adj. A.1.
   13. unzealous 1643–
       (un-, prefix¹ affix 1.)
   14. slight 1660–
       Wanting in fullness or heartiness.
   15. unenthusiastic 1805–
       (un-, prefix¹ affix 1)
   16. teporous 1821
       Tepid.
   17. coolish 1850–
       Somewhat cool (in various senses).
   18. ice-cool 1891–
       figurative. Lacking in enthusiasm or warmth; frosty, aloof; (also) steely, unruffled, intensely calm.
   19. demotivated 1963–
       That has lost motivation; less eager to work, study, or make an effort; unenthusiastic, unstimulated.
   20. meh 2007–
       Mediocre; unexceptional, uninspiring; (also) unenthusiastic.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈziːllᵻs/
ZEEL-luhss

### U.S. English

/ˈzillᵻs/
ZEEL-luhss

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

##### Consonants

- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye*
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing

* /d/ also represents a 'tapped' /t/ as in

Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence /ˈpɛd(ə)l/ but /ˈpɛdl̩i/.

##### Vowels

- ifleece, happy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- ætrap, bath
- ɑlot, palm, cloth, thought
- ɑrstart
- ɔcloth, thought
- ɔrnorth, force
- ʊfoot
- ugoose
- əstrut, comma
- ərnurse, letter
- ɪ(ə)rnear
- ɛ(ə)rsquare
- ʊ(ə)rcure
- eɪface
- aɪpride
- aʊmouth
- oʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ɑ̃gratin
- æ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)

##### Other symbols

- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.

View the pronunciation model here.

####

Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U.S. English Simple Text Respell.

##### Consonants

b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values

- gguy
- jjay
- yyore
- chchore
- khloch
- shshore
- ththaw
- dhthee
- zhbeige

##### Vowels

- atrap
- ahpalm
- airsquare
- arstart
- arrcarry (British only)
- awthought
- ayface
- a(ng)gratin
- edress
- eefleece
- eerdeer
- errmerry
- ikit
- ighpride
- irrmirror
- olot (British only)
- ohgoat
- oogoose
- oorcure
- orforce
- orrsorry (British only)
- owmouth
- oyvoice
- o(ng)salon
- ustrut
- uhletter
- urnurse
- urrhurry
- uufoot

## Forms

### Variant forms

See zeal n. and ‑less suffix.

## Frequency

zealless typically occurs fewer than 0.01 times per million words in modern written English.

zealless is in frequency band 1, which contains words occurring fewer than 0.001 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands

Frequency data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### Frequency of zealless, adj., 1790–2010

* Occurrences per million words in written English

Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.

The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.

For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.

Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.

Decade | Frequency per million words
--- | ---
1790 | 0.0007
1800 | 0.0005
1810 | 0.0004
1820 | 0.0004
1830 | 0.0005
1840 | 0.0005
1850 | 0.0005
1860 | 0.0004
1870 | 0.0006
1880 | 0.0007
1890 | 0.0007
1900 | 0.0004
1910 | 0.0003
1920 | 0.0003
1930 | 0.0003
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.00006
1960 | 0.00001
1970 | 0.00002
1980 | 0.00003
1990 | 0.00004
2000 | 0.00004
2010 | 0.00004

## Compounds & derived words

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1. zeallessness, n. 1667–

Originally published as part of the entry for zeal, n.

zealless, adj. was revised in June 2018.

zealless, adj. was last modified in July 2023.