zealotism, n.

zealotism
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zealotism_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zealotismnoun

## Earlier version

- zelotism in OED Second Edition (1989)

## Factsheet

### What does the noun zealotism mean?

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun zealotism. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.

### How common is the noun zealotism?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1780 | 0.0041
1790 | 0.0042
1800 | 0.0044
1810 | 0.0046
1820 | 0.0041
1830 | 0.0048
1840 | 0.0055
1850 | 0.0058
1860 | 0.0058
1870 | 0.0053
1880 | 0.0048
1890 | 0.0047
1900 | 0.0043
1910 | 0.0034
1920 | 0.0028
1930 | 0.0026
1940 | 0.0027
1950 | 0.0027
1960 | 0.0025
1970 | 0.0022
1980 | 0.0022
1990 | 0.002
2000 | 0.0019
2010 | 0.0019

### How is the noun zealotism pronounced?

#### British English

/ˈzɛlətɪz(ə)m/
ZEL-uh-tiz-uhm

#### U.S. English

/ˈzɛləˌtɪzəm/
ZEL-uh-tiz-uhm

### Where does the noun zealotism come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the noun zealotism is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for zealotism is from 1645, in the writing of J. Wheelwright.

zealotism is formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: zealot n., ‑ism suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zealed, adj. 1679–1903
2. zealer, n.?a1450–1673
3. zealful, adj. 1602–
4. zeal-inflamed, adj. 1648–
5. zealing, adj. 1459–1602
6. zealist, n. 1614–
7. zealless, adj. a1594–
8. zealot, n. & adj. a1400–
9. zealotic, adj. 1657–
10. zealotical, adj. 1630–
11. zealotism, n.1645–
12. zealotist, n. & adj. 1593–
13. zealotry, n. 1653–
14. zealous, adj.?1495–
15. zealously, adv.?1495–
16. zealousness, n. c1555–
17. zealousy, n. 1542–
18. zeal-pretending, adj. 1652–69
19. zeal-quenching, adj. 1688–1877
20. zeal-scoffing, adj. 1605
21. zeal-transported, adj. a1644–59

## Etymology

### Summary

Formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: zealot n., ‑ism suffix.
< zealot n. + ‑ism suffix.

Compare earlier zealotist n.…
< zealot n. + ‑ism suffix.

Compare earlier zealotist n.

### Notes

Compare German Zelotismus (late 19th cent. or earlier), French zélotisme (1870; 1877 with specific reference to the Jewish movement of the Zealots).
With the formal variation compare discussion at zealot n. and zealator n.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1645–
   Behaviour or belief characteristic of a zealot (zealot n. A.3); zealotry.
   In quot. 1645, as a count noun.
   1. 1645

      > The spirits of men in Winter..have too much asperity in the morning to be trusted with zealotismes.

      J. Wheelwright, Mercurius Americanus 17
   2. 1693

      > We had our times of Zealotism too.

      R. Bynns, Sermon 21
   3. 1716

      > His Embassador's indefatigable Zelotism.

      M. Davies, Suppl. Diss. Latin Drama 2 in Athenæ Britannicæ vol. III
   4. 1751

      > The folly & cruelty of stiffness & zealotism in religion.

      T. Gray, Letter 8 September in Correspondence (1971) vol. I. 349
   5. 1888

      > I could not altogether escape..the Mohammedan zelotism.

      C. M. Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta vol. I. 548
   6. 1968

      > The overwhelming moral zealotism of the Neo-Confucian movement.

      American Historical Review vol. 73 877
   7. 2012

      > Initially, my father suffered from the common conversion affliction of zealotism, lecturing his bewildered ageing parents..about the karmic parallels between Nazi concentration camps and abattoirs.

      M. Atkinson in J. M. Coetzee et al., 2013 Voiceless Anthology 10
   religion
   1. zeal a1382–
      Passion, fervour; vehemence of feeling. In Biblical language, as an attribute of God: passionate love or care which will tolerate no unfaithfulness…
   2. suspending 1483
      = suspension, n. I.7. Obsolete.
   3. rapture 1598–
      As a mass noun: transport of mind, mental exaltation or absorption, ecstasy; (now esp.) ecstatic delight or joy.
   4. zealotism 1645–
      Behaviour or belief characteristic of a zealot (zealot, n. A.3); zealotry.
   5. ecstasy a1652–
      Used by mystical writers as the technical name for the state of rapture in which the body was supposed to become incapable of sensation, while the…
   6. fanaticism 1652–
      The tendency to indulge in wild and extravagant notions, esp. in religious matters; excessive enthusiasm, frenzy; an instance, a particular form, of…
   7. suspension 1669
      An ecstasy of contemplation. Obsolete. rare.
   8. fanatism 1680–1800
      = fanaticism, n.
   9. rapturousness a1687–
      The state or quality of being rapturous.
   10. religionism 1706–
       Excessive inclination to religion; marked or affected religious zeal.
   11. rapturation 1792–1814
       = rapture, n. 1.
   12. samadhi 1795–
       The state of union with creation into which a perfected yogi or holy man is said to pass at his apparent death.
   13. Schwärmerei 1845–
       Religious zeal, fanaticism, extravagant enthusiasm for a cause or a person; an erotic attachment, esp. of one woman or adolescent girl for another…
   14. seraphism 1846–
       Ecstatic devotion.
   15. ecstasis 1874–
       = ecstasy, n. 2, 3.
   16. mania 1886–
       Inspired frenzy or madness. rare.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. zealotism 1645–
      Behaviour or belief characteristic of a zealot (zealot, n. A.3); zealotry.
   2. fanaticism 1652–
      The tendency to indulge in wild and extravagant notions, esp. in religious matters; excessive enthusiasm, frenzy; an instance, a particular form, of…
   3. zealotry 1653–
      Behaviour or belief characteristic or typical of a zealot; esp. immoderate or fanatical devotion to a religious or political cause or ideal. Also…
   4. fanaticalness 1668–
      The quality or state of being fanatical; fanaticism.
   5. fanatism 1680–1800
      = fanaticism, n.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1885–
   Chiefly with capital initial. The revolutionary movement of the Zealots (zealot n. A.2); the beliefs or aims of this movement. historical.
   1. 1885

      > Zealotism [German das Eifererthum] itself did not..cease to ferment in the hearts..of many..adherents of the party.

      J. F. Smith, translation of H. Ewald, History of Israel vol. VII. 615
   2. 1956

      > The keenest hopes of all Zealotism seemed at last to be on the way toward realisation in Jesus.

      O. Cullmann, State in New Testament ii. 38
   3. 1972

      > Zealotism was essentially a popular movement, embodying both the religious and social aspirations.

      Novum Testamentum vol. 14 235
   4. 2000

      > The above is more a presentation of the ideas behind Zealotism rather than a history of that party.

      P. Sacchi, Hist. Second Temple Period ix. 297
   historical

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzɛlətɪz(ə)m/
ZEL-uh-tiz-uhm

### U.S. English

/ˈzɛləˌtɪzəm/
ZEL-uh-tiz-uhm

####

##### 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

##### α.

1. 1600s
   zealotisme
2. 1600s–
   zealotism

##### β.

1. 1700s–1800s
   zelotism

## Frequency

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

zealotism is in frequency band 2, which contains words occurring between 0.001 and 0.01 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 zealotism, n., 1780–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1780 | 0.0041
1790 | 0.0042
1800 | 0.0044
1810 | 0.0046
1820 | 0.0041
1830 | 0.0048
1840 | 0.0055
1850 | 0.0058
1860 | 0.0058
1870 | 0.0053
1880 | 0.0048
1890 | 0.0047
1900 | 0.0043
1910 | 0.0034
1920 | 0.0028
1930 | 0.0026
1940 | 0.0027
1950 | 0.0027
1960 | 0.0025
1970 | 0.0022
1980 | 0.0022
1990 | 0.002
2000 | 0.0019
2010 | 0.0019

zealotism, n. was revised in June 2018.

zealotism, n. was last modified in September 2024.