There are four meanings listed in OED's entry for the word Zionist, one of which is labelled obsolete. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
Zionist has developed meanings and uses in subjects including
About 6occurrences per million words in modern written English
1800
0.0007
1810
0.0008
1820
0.0006
1830
0.0005
1840
0.0005
1850
0.0007
1860
0.001
1870
0.0013
1880
0.016
1890
0.072
1900
0.38
1910
0.93
1920
1.9
1930
3.4
1940
4.8
1950
6.0
1960
7.1
1970
7.3
1980
6.9
1990
5.6
2000
4.8
2010
4.6
How is the word Zionist pronounced?
British English
/ˈzʌɪənɪst/
ZIGH-uh-nist
U.S. English
/ˈzaɪənəst/
ZIGH-uh-nuhst
Where does the word Zionist come from?
Earliest known use
mid 1600s
The earliest known use of the word Zionist is in the mid 1600s.
OED's earliest evidence for Zionist is from before 1649, in the writing of George Abbott, writer and politician.
Zionist is of multiple origins. Partly formed within English, by derivation; partly modelled on a German lexical item. Partly from a proper name, combined with an English element.
Of multiple origins. Partly formed within English, by derivation; partly modelled on a German lexical item. Partly from a proper name, combined with an English element.
In sense A.1<Zionn. + ‑istsuffix.In sense A.2<Zionn. + ‑istsuffix, after GermanZionist (N. Birnbaum 1890, in Selbst-Emancipation 3 Oct. 6/3). Compare Zionismn. and the etymological note at that entry.In sense A.3<…
In sense A.1<Zionn. + ‑istsuffix.In sense A.2<Zionn. + ‑istsuffix, after GermanZionist (N. Birnbaum 1890, in Selbst-Emancipation 3 Oct. 6/3). Compare Zionismn. and the etymological note at that entry.In sense A.3< the name of Zion, Illinois + ‑istsuffix; the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion, Illinois, significantly influenced the development of this religious movement in South Africa in the early 1900s.
† A member of a religious group believing in an idealized society or Zion (Zionn. 2a). Cf. Zioniten. 1. Obsolete. rare.
In quot. a1649 denoting Christians, with reference to Psalm 87. In quot. 1863 denoting the name of a Protestant or Nonconformist sect.
a1649
Setting forth the glorious priviledges of Sion proph[e]sied of old, but not yet fulfilled, saving in their shadows, which shortly would be accomplished in substance, when all nations should be ambitious to be Sionists, for the Church it selfe should bear that name.
G. Abbott, Brief Notes Psalms (1651) lxxxvii. 396
1863
Independents, Baptists, Ranters, Unitarians, Methodists, Milleniumists, Southcotists, Zionists, and all the other sections into which Christianity is split up can keep open their respective tabernacles without state aid.
Preston Chron. & Lancashire Advertiser 19 December 6/3
Originally: an advocate or supporter of a movement among Jewish people for the re-establishment of a Jewish nation in Palestine. Later: an advocate or supporter of the development and protection of the state of Israel. Cf. Zionismn. 1.
1891
At the meeting of zionists the speakers declared that facts were known which justified the action of the European governments.
Los Angeles Times 30 May 1
1900
We Zionists labor to turn their eyes to the east, to the land of their national birth..where anti-Semitism can be changed into pro-Semitism.
Chicago Tribune 7 January 34/4
1971
My biography is similar to those of so many other Jewish people from Lithuania: to kheyder at the age of five, had a good head for learning, was religious, then became an unbeliever and later a Zionist.
I. Metzker & D. L. Levy, translation of Bintel Brief 131
2015
Naftali Bennett's Jewish Home Party is explicitly advocating a closer alliance between religious and secular Zionists.
A member of any of a group of independent churches in southern Africa which practise a form of Christianity similar to that of Pentecostal churches but incorporating elements of African traditional worship and belief.
1948
Theologically the Zionists are now a syncretistic Bantu movement with healing, speaking with tongues, purification rites, and taboos as the main expressions of their faith.
B. G. M. Sundkler, Bantu Prophets in South Africa ii. 55
1977
Some aspects of the old Soweto still exist: the neatly kept gardens of middle-class black homes;..the Zionists, an Africanized Christian sect, famous for their daylong religious dances that begin at prayer services in backyard tents on Saturday nights.
Time 27 June 18/3
2014
An indication of the external similarity of Isaiah's new church with the Zionist movement is the fact that, on more than one occasion, the government mistook Nazaretha believers for Zionists.
J. Cabrita, Text & Authority in South Afr. Nazaretha Church iii. 98
Of or relating to Zionism (Zionismn. 1); designating a Zionist (sense A.2).
1896
The emigration and Zionist societies.
Jewish Chronicle 17 January 12/2
1923
It will be seen from this how far right the Zionist leaders, Dr. Weizmann and Mr. Sokolow in particular, were in the estimate they put upon that Statement.
Jewish Chronicle 19 January 5/1
1967
He had become involved in Zionist activities and was always attending meetings where he spoke about the importance of Palestine as a Jewish homeland.
C. Potok, Chosen xiii. 213
2018
Although the Zionist movement was founded in the 19th century, the state of Israel was born following the Holocaust.
Western Mail (Cardiff) (National edition) (Nexis) 22 November
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.
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.
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
1800s–
Zionist
1900s
Sionist
Frequency
Zionist typically occurs about six times per million words in modern written English.
Zionist is in frequency band 5, which contains words occurring between 1 and 10 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 Zionist, n. & adj., 1800–2010
* 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
1800
0.0007
1810
0.0008
1820
0.0006
1830
0.0005
1840
0.0005
1850
0.0007
1860
0.001
1870
0.0013
1880
0.016
1890
0.072
1900
0.38
1910
0.93
1920
1.9
1930
3.4
1940
4.8
1950
6.0
1960
7.1
1970
7.3
1980
6.9
1990
5.6
2000
4.8
2010
4.6
Frequency of Zionist, n. & adj., 2017–2024
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Modern frequency series are derived from a corpus of 20 billion words, covering the period from 2017 to the present. The corpus is mainly compiled from online news sources, and covers all major varieties of World English.
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 corpus.