missionary zeal
1
7.6
- noun
- /ˈmɪʃəˌnɛri zil/
:
ímpetu misionero
- With missionary zeal, the volunteers spread the message of health awareness in the impoverished neighborhoods.
Examples
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Mostly new immigrants, small in number, and not entirely welcome in a movement imbued with Christian missionary zeal, Jewish women did not stand out as outspoken abolitionists.
Academic text (2003) -
Sit down with a teacher at the Denver Street School's west campus, and you're apt to get a glimpse of missionary zeal.
Academic text (2007) -
Mrs. Elliott's missionary zeal about Mozart has nothing to do with our problem!
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As with radical Islamic schools, these madrasas should be free of charge and driven by missionary zeal.
Academic text (2011) -
They approached historic properties surveys with an almost missionary zeal.
Academic text (2004) -
Early Christianity, over all other religions that existed in Rome, was bursting with missionary zeal.
Academic text (2004) -
By such a strange mixture of philanthropy and business acumen, missionary zeal and diplomacy, the expansion of the British Empire thus proceeded.
Academic text (1996) -
One of the early reasons for the opposition of Stephensen's contemporaries to his view of the uprising was the very missionary zeal with which he sought to bring the movement to Iceland.
Academic text (2000) -
The teacher approached her work with missionary zeal, inspiring her students to learn and engage.
-
His missionary zeal for environmental conservation led him to organize community clean-up events every month.
Synonyms
36
5.8
A strong feeling of energy and interest in helping a cause
1
5.6
A strong, eager interest in a cause or idea
How Zealous
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase is a regular adjective + noun composition: 'missionary' narrows 'zeal' to enthusiasm associated with missionary/outreach activity, so the combined meaning ('fervent enthusiasm to promote or spread a cause') is directly derivable from the parts. This is a transparent, compositional pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents should be able to infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Missionary zeal comes from religious missionary workers who traveled to far places to spread their faith, and the word zeal shows their strong energy and passion. That's why it now means a very strong wish to 'spread' or promote a 'cause' and to work very hard for it.