zealotical, adj.

zealotical
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zealotical_adj%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
Revised 2018

# zealoticaladjective

## Factsheet

### What does the adjective zealotical mean?

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

### How common is the adjective zealotical?

Fewer than 0.01occurrences per million words in modern written English

1820 | 0.0007
1830 | 0.0005
1840 | 0.0005
1850 | 0.0005
1860 | 0.0002
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0001
1890 | 0.0002
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.00007
1980 | 0.00004
1990 | 0.00003
2000 | 0.00002
2010 | 0.00003

### How is the adjective zealotical pronounced?

#### British English

/zᵻˈlɒtᵻkl/
zuh-LOT-uh-kuhl
/zɛˈlɒtᵻkl/
zel-O-tuh-kuhl

#### U.S. English

/zəˈlɑdək(ə)l/
zuh-LAH-duh-kuhl
/ziˈlɑdək(ə)l/
zee-LAH-duh-kuhl

### Where does the adjective zealotical come from?

Earliest known use

mid 1600s

The earliest known use of the adjective zealotical is in the mid 1600s.

OED's earliest evidence for zealotical is from 1630, in a letter by J. Mead.

zealotical is of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element. Partly formed within English, by derivation.

Etymons: Greek ζηλωτικός, ‑al suffix1; zealot n., ‑ical suffix.

### Nearby entries

1. zeal-consuming, adj. 1629–1882
2. zealed, adj. 1679–1903
3. zealer, n.?a1450–1673
4. zealful, adj. 1602–
5. zeal-inflamed, adj. 1648–
6. zealing, adj. 1459–1602
7. zealist, n. 1614–
8. zealless, adj. a1594–
9. zealot, n. & adj. a1400–
10. zealotic, adj. 1657–
11. zealotical, adj.1630–
12. zealotism, n. 1645–
13. zealotist, n. & adj. 1593–
14. zealotry, n. 1653–
15. zealous, adj.?1495–
16. zealously, adv.?1495–
17. zealousness, n. c1555–
18. zealousy, n. 1542–
19. zeal-pretending, adj. 1652–69
20. zeal-quenching, adj. 1688–1877
21. zeal-scoffing, adj. 1605

## Etymology

### Summary

Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from Greek, combined with an English element. Partly formed within English, by derivation.
Etymons: Greek ζηλωτικός, ‑al suffix1; zealot n., ‑ical suffix.
Partly < ancient Greek ζηλωτικός zealotic adj. + ‑al suffix1,

and partly < zealot n. + ‑ical suffix.

Compare slightly later zealotic adj.…
Partly < ancient Greek ζηλωτικός zealotic adj. + ‑al suffix1,

and partly < zealot n. + ‑ical suffix.

Compare slightly later zealotic adj.

### Notes

With the formal variation compare discussion at zealot n. and zealator n.

## Meaning & use

Now rare.

1. 1630–
   Resembling a zealot; characterized by (excessive) zeal; typical or characteristic of a zealot or zealots. Cf. zealotic adj. 1.
   1. 1630

      > One Leviston a zeloticall Scottishman.

      J. Mead, Letter 27 November (BL MS Harl. 390) f. 522
   2. a1638

      > The zelotical Anti-chiliasts.

      J. Mede, Paraphr. 2 Peter iii. in Works (1672) iii. 611
   3. 1694

      > Dr. Marshal Dean of Christ's-Church, a most furious and zelotical Man.

      J. Strype, Memorials of Thomas Cranmer iii. xix. 373
   4. 1723

      > St. Stephen was not put to death by any Legal Process, but stoned in a Zelotical fury.

      H. Lambe, Christian Zeal Display'd 7
   5. 1893

      > That Congress should have yielded to a species of zealotical bulldozing in this matter of Sunday opening is greatly to be regretted.

      Boston Daily Globe 19 May 4/1
   6. 2004

      > By 1911, the old rift between the Radicals and the more hot-headed, zealotical military clique became more marked.

      A. Shakoor, Origins Modern Europe xii. 365
   1. fanatical?1550–
      = fanatic, adj. A.2.
   2. zealotical 1630–
      Resembling a zealot; characterized by (excessive) zeal; typical or characteristic of a zealot or zealots. Cf. zealotic, adj. 1.
   3. zealot 1641–
      That is a zealot; characteristic of a zealot or zealots.
   4. zealotic 1657–
      Typical or characteristic of a zealot or zealots; characterized by (excessive) zeal.
   5. fanatic 1659–
      Of persons, their actions, attributes, etc.: Characterized, influenced, or prompted by excessive and mistaken enthusiasm, esp. in religious matters.
   6. synagoguish 1690–
      Showing excessive zeal for the synagogue, fanatical.
   7. unsaving 1714
      (un-, prefix¹ affix 4.)
   8. swivel-eyed 1758–
      Of a person: (originally) having eyes pointing in different directions; having eyes which are rotating wildly. Hence: having a crazed or…
   9. hobby-horsical 1761–
      Belonging or devoted to a ‘hobby-horse’ or hobby, crotchety, whimsical.
   10. fanaticized 1827–
   11. lunatic fringe 1935–
       Chiefly disparaging or derogatory. Esp. of members of a political movement, or their beliefs: eccentric, extremist, fanatical.
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/zᵻˈlɒtᵻkl/
zuh-LOT-uh-kuhl
/zɛˈlɒtᵻkl/
zel-O-tuh-kuhl
/ziːˈlɒtᵻkl/
zee-LOT-uh-kuhl

### U.S. English

/zəˈlɑdək(ə)l/
zuh-LAH-duh-kuhl
/ziˈlɑdək(ə)l/
zee-LAH-duh-kuhl

####

##### 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

1. 1600s
   zeloticall
2. 1600s–1700s
   zelotical
3. 1600s; 1800s; 2000s–
   zealotical

## Frequency

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

zealotical 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 zealotical, adj., 1820–2010

* 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
--- | ---
1820 | 0.0007
1830 | 0.0005
1840 | 0.0005
1850 | 0.0005
1860 | 0.0002
1870 | 0.0003
1880 | 0.0001
1890 | 0.0002
1900 | 0.0002
1910 | 0.0001
1920 | 0.0001
1930 | 0.0001
1940 | 0.0001
1950 | 0.0001
1960 | 0.0001
1970 | 0.00007
1980 | 0.00004
1990 | 0.00003
2000 | 0.00002
2010 | 0.00003

Originally published as part of the entry for zealotic, adj.

zealotical, adj. was revised in June 2018.

zealotical, adj. was last modified in July 2023.