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?
| 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
U.S. English
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
- Zealandish, adj.1684–
- zealator, n.a1464–
- zeal-blind, adj.1615–1898
- zeal-consuming, adj.1629–1882
- zealed, adj.1679–1903
- zealer, n.?a1450–1673
- zealful, adj.1602–
- zeal-inflamed, adj.1648–
- zealing, adj.1459–1602
- zealist, n.1614–
- zealless, adj.a1594–
- zealot, n. & adj.a1400–
- zealotic, adj.1657–
- zealotical, adj.1630–
- zealotism, n.1645–
- zealotist, n. & adj.1593–
- zealotry, n.1653–
- zealous, adj.?1495–
- zealously, adv.?1495–
- zealousness, n.c1555–
- zealousy, n.1542–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- a1594–Lacking zeal; devoid of enthusiasm for or devotion to a cause, belief, undertaking, etc.
- a1594
We may call to mind..how many heretofore christians..are now become zealelesse worldlings.
R. Greenham, Works (1612) 588 - 1613
O thou zealeless mortality.
H. Spelman, De non temerandis Ecclesiis (1646) 30 - 1649
That heartlesse zeallesse behaviour in this very house of God.
H. Hammond, Christians Obligations vii. 174 - 1844
Her missionaries are..not spiritless and zealless, but full of energy and hope.
Morning Chronicle 31 May 5/3 - 1868
A zealless, loveless, lifeless worship of God.
E. B. Pusey, Sermon Pharisaism 15 - 1946
The arguments of faithless and zeal-less Christians.
E. A. Peers, Fool of Love vi. 95 - 2014
The world is filled with the living dead: joyless, passionless, zeal-less, lifeless Christians.
L. Sweet, Well-Played Life Introduction 9
- coolOld English–Lacking in fervour or zeal, unenthusiastic; lacking heartiness or warmth of interest. Cf. cold, adj. II.7a, lukewarm, adj. A.2.
- luke1340–= lukewarm, adj. A.2.
- tepid1513–Moderately or slightly warm; lukewarm. figurative. = lukewarm, adj. A.2.
- lukewarma1535–Of persons, their actions, attributes, etc.: Having little warmth or depth of feeling, lacking zeal, enthusiasm or ardour, indifferent.
- unearnest1542–(un-, prefix¹ affix 1.)
- spiritless1566–Marked or characterized by a lack of true faith; devoid of spiritual qualities. Now somewhat rare and coloured by other senses.
- zeallessa1594–Lacking zeal; devoid of enthusiasm for or devotion to a cause, belief, undertaking, etc.
- faint1596–Wanting in strength or vigour. Of actions, wishes, purposes: Half-hearted, languid, feeble.
- unfiery1598–(un-, prefix¹ affix 1.)
- tepidous1607Tepid, lukewarm (obsolete).
- Laodicean1633–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…
- heartless1636–Of action, speech, etc.: lacking in enthusiasm or commitment; not heartfelt or zealous. Cf. half-hearted, adj. A.1.
- unzealous1643–(un-, prefix¹ affix 1.)
- slight1660–Wanting in fullness or heartiness.
- unenthusiastic1805–(un-, prefix¹ affix 1)
- teporous1821Tepid.
- coolish1850–Somewhat cool (in various senses).
- ice-cool1891–figurative. Lacking in enthusiasm or warmth; frosty, aloof; (also) steely, unruffled, intensely calm.
- demotivated1963–That has lost motivation; less eager to work, study, or make an effort; unenthusiastic, unstimulated.
- meh2007–Mediocre; unexceptional, uninspiring; (also) unenthusiastic.
Pronunciation
British English
U.S. English
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
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
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
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 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
- zeallessness, n. 1667–