different between painstaking vs zealous

English

Alternative forms

• (archaic) pains-taking

Etymology

From pains +? taking.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?pe?n?ste?k??/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /?pe?nz?te?k??/

Adjective

painstaking (comparative more painstaking, superlative most painstaking)

1. Carefully attentive to details; diligent in performing a process or procedure.
   • 1781, James Harris, Philological Inquiries

     All these painstaking men, considered together, may be said to have completed another species of criticism.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:industrious
• See also Thesaurus:meticulous

Derived terms

• painstakingly, painstakingness

Translations

Noun

painstaking (countable and uncountable, plural painstakings)

1. The application of careful and attentive effort.
   • c. 1836, Thomas Chalmers, Lectures on the Romans

     It is not by a flight of imagination that you gain the ascents of spiritual experience. It is by the toils and the watchings and the painstakings of a solid obedience.

   • 1852, Nathaniel Langdon Frothingham, Sermons in the Order of a Twelvemonth, "Sermon VI"

     Behold what an abundant recompense attends the small processes of the earth, with the help of a little warm air; and what wealthy returns the industry of the husbandman and the florist is preparing from a few seeds and painstakings.

English

Alternative forms

• zelous

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ????? (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from ????? (z?ló?, “to emulate, to be jealous”). Doublet of jealous.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?z?l.?s/
• Rhymes: -?l?s
• Hyphenation: zeal?ous

Adjective

zealous (comparative more zealous, superlative most zealous)

1. Full of zeal; ardent, fervent; exhibiting enthusiasm or strong passion.
   • 1791, James Boswell, The life of Samuel Johnson, new ed. (1831) by John Wilson Croker, volume 1, page 238:

     Johnson was truly zealous for the success of "The Adventurer;" and very soon after his engaging in it, he wrote the following letter:

   • 1896, Andrew Dickson White, A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom (2004 edition), page 122:

     Doubtless many will exclaim against the Roman Catholic Church for this; but the simple truth is that Protestantism was no less zealous against the new scientific doctrine.

   • 1940, Foster Rhea Dulles, America Learns to Play: A history of popular recreation, 1607-1940, page 61:

     […] and there were few more zealous dancers at the fashionable balls in the Raleigh Tavern at Williamsburg.

   • 2011 April 4, "Newt Gingrich," Time (retrieved 9 Sept 2013):

     Newt Gingrich . . . left Congress in 1998, following GOP midterm-election losses that many blamed on his zealous pursuit of Bill Clinton's impeachment.

Synonyms

• (full of zeal): ardent, eager, enthusiastic, fervent, passionate, zealotic

Antonyms

• (full of zeal): apathetic, dispassionate, indifferent, unenthusiastic

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations