1 a person who is fanatical and uncompromising in pursuit of their religious, political, or other ideals.
2 (Zealot)historicala member of an ancient Jewish sect that aimed at a world Jewish theocracy and resisted the Romans until ad 70.
– ORIGIN late Middle English (as an epithet of the apostle Simon): via ecclesiastical Latin from Greekzēlōtēs, from zēloun‘be zealous’, from zēlos (see zeal).