different between zeal vs fervor

English

Etymology

From Middle English zele, from Old French zel, from Late Latin z?lus, from Ancient Greek ????? (zêlos, “zeal, jealousy”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeh?- (“to search”). Related to jealous.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /zi?l/
• (US) IPA^(key): /zil/
• Rhymes: -i?l

Noun

zeal (countable and uncountable, plural zeals)

1. The fervour or tireless devotion for a person, cause, or ideal and determination in its furtherance; diligent enthusiasm; powerful interest.

   Synonyms: ardour, eagerness, enthusiasm, intensity, passion

   Antonym: apathy

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Romans 10.2,^[1]

     […] I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

   • 1687, John Dryden, The Hind and the Panther, London: Jacob Tonson, Part 3, p. 96,^[2]

     Zeal, the blind conductor of the will

   • 1779, David Hume, Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion, Part 12, pp. 143-144,^[3]

     […] the highest zeal in religion and the deepest hypocrisy, so far from being inconsistent, are often or commonly united in the same individual character.

   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, London: John Murray, Volume 1, Chapter 14, p. 250,^[4]

     [He] would begin admiring her drawings with so much zeal and so little knowledge as seemed terribly like a would-be lover,

   • 1962, Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, Chapter 15, p. 248,^[5]

     The stockman’s zeal for eliminating the coyote has resulted in plagues of field mice, which the coyote formerly controlled.

2. (obsolete) A person who exhibits such fervour or tireless devotion.

   Synonym: zealot

   • 1614, Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, London: Robert Allot, Act V, Scene 5, p. 85,^[6]

     […] like a malicious purblinde zeale as thou art!

   • 1642, Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, London: Andrew Crooke, p. 5,^[7]

     […] there are questionlesse both in Greeke, Roman and Africa Churches, solemnities, and ceremonies, whereof the wiser zeales doe make a Christian use, and stand condemned by us;

3. The collective noun for a group of zebras.

   Synonyms: dazzle, herd

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Elza, laze, zale

English

Alternative forms

• fervour (Commonwealth)

Etymology

From Middle English, from Old French, from Latin fervor (“a boiling or raging heat, heat, vehemence, passion”), from fervere (“to boil, be hot”); see fervent.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?f?v?/

Noun

fervor (countable and uncountable, plural fervors)

1. (American spelling) An intense, heated emotion; passion, ardor.

2. (American spelling) A passionate enthusiasm for some cause.
3. (American spelling) Heat.

Synonyms

• (passionate enthusiasm): fire in the belly, zeal

Related terms

• fervent
• fervid
• fever

Translations

Further reading

• fervor in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• fervor in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “fervor”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• frover

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin fervor, attested from the 14th century.

Noun

fervor m or f (plural fervors)

1. fervor

Derived terms

• fervorós

Related terms

• fervent

References

Further reading

• “fervor” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “fervor” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “fervor” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Latin

Etymology

From ferve? +? -or.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /?fer.u?or/, [?f?ru??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /?fer.vor/, [?f?rv?r]

Noun

fervor m (genitive ferv?ris); third declension

1. boiling heat
2. fermenting
3. ardour, passion, fury
4. intoxication

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Descendants

References

• fervor in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• fervor in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fervor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Occitan

Etymology

From Latin fervor. Attested from the 14th century.

Pronunciation

Noun

fervor f (plural fervors)

1. fervor

   Synonym: ardor

Related terms

• fervent
• fervorós

References

Portuguese

Etymology

From Latin ferv?ris.

Pronunciation

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /f??.?vo?/
• Hyphenation: fer?vor

Noun

fervor m (plural fervores)

1. fervour (passionate enthusiasm)

Related terms

• fervente
• fervoroso

Further reading

• “fervor” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin ferv?ris.

Noun

fervor m (plural fervores)

1. fervor

Related terms

• ferviente
• fervoroso

Further reading

• “fervor” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.