GRE vocabulary
zealot
a person who is fanatically and uncompromisingly committed to a cause or belief
Word origin: From Greek zelotes, zealous one.
Test your vocabulary in a real test Full-length · no signup · instant score
In a sentence
Zealot in a sentence
Here are example sentences showing zealot in a sentence.
The reformer was dismissed by his rivals as a humorless zealot incapable of compromise.
The movement's early zealots refused any compromise, treating every concession as a betrayal of principle.
Usage & nuance
Using “zealot” well
A zealot is someone fanatically and uncompromisingly committed to a cause or belief, a clearly negative term. It is the opposite of a moderate or a skeptic.
Common questions
Questions about “zealot”
Zealot (noun) means a person who is fanatically and uncompromisingly committed to a cause or belief
Here is zealot used in an example sentence: "The reformer was dismissed by his rivals as a humorless zealot incapable of compromise." Another example: "The movement's early zealots refused any compromise, treating every concession as a betrayal of principle."
Common synonyms for zealot include fanatic, extremist, partisan, militant.
Antonyms of zealot include moderate, skeptic.
Clusters with fanatic, extremist, and militant in Sentence Equivalence. Its antonyms moderate and skeptic mark the reversed sense.
Yes. Zealot is a high-frequency GRE word, so it is worth prioritising as you build your vocabulary.
See these words the way the GRE tests them.
Definitions in isolation do not stick. Sit a free, full-length GRE mock and meet this vocabulary inside real text completion and sentence equivalence questions, with your score and a worked solution for every answer.