What's the difference between earnest and zealous?

Earnest


Definition:

  • (n.) Seriousness; reality; fixed determination; eagerness; intentness.
  • (a.) Ardent in the pursuit of an object; eager to obtain or do; zealous with sincerity; with hearty endeavor; heartfelt; fervent; hearty; -- used in a good sense; as, earnest prayers.
  • (a.) Intent; fixed closely; as, earnest attention.
  • (a.) Serious; important.
  • (v. t.) To use in earnest.
  • (n.) Something given, or a part paid beforehand, as a pledge; pledge; handsel; a token of what is to come.
  • (n.) Something of value given by the buyer to the seller, by way of token or pledge, to bind the bargain and prove the sale.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) "For a better world, not only for the Iranian people but for the next generation across the globe, I earnestly hope that President Rouhani will receive a warm welcome and meaningful responses during his visit to the UN."
  • (2) Tragedy was averted because there was a little delay as the prayers did not commence in earnest and the bomb strapped to the body of the girl went off and killed her,” he added.
  • (3) However, despite repeated questions from reporters, Earnest did not rule out Obama approving fast-track without TAA if that combination somehow made it through procedural hurdles in the Senate.
  • (4) There's something very earnest about the build up to this MLS Cup final, as if the battle on the field between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake starts with a competition to see which team can "respect" the other one more fiercely.
  • (5) But at the same time, there is an earnest side to it all.
  • (6) Earnest confirmed some departures were likely as “members of the president’s staff to use the opportunity of the election” to leave the White House and “sort of engage in a transition”, but he rejected suggestions of a cull of big names.
  • (7) This begins in earnest after the 6-week assessment, which can provide information on which to base an exercise prescription.
  • (8) While Obama said in a written statement that he was “deeply disturbed” by the footage of Laquan’s shooting, spokesman Josh Earnest was reluctant to criticize Emanuel’s handling of the situation when pressed by reporters last week on whether the mayor should resign.
  • (9) Dean Garfield, president and CEO of tech business lobbying group and thinktank the Information Technology Industry Council, opened his address to the US-China Internet Industry Forum (where Xi was in attendance) in Silicon Valley on Wednesday thus: “We live in a world where the list of societal challenges is long, and getting longer, but where the collective collaboration between the United States and China is just, say, suboptimal.” Earnest said further that talk from Chinese officials on this subject was cheap.
  • (10) We believe that an open society with the highest possible degree of autonomy, and governed by the rule of law, is essential for Hong Kong’s stability and prosperity,” spokesman Josh Earnest said.
  • (11) Lobbying for the job of BBC director general of the BBC is expected to begin in earnest following MediaGuardian's revelation late on Thursday that Thompson was planning to step down at the end of the year or the beginning of 2013.
  • (12) International monitoring of the ICIDH has begun in earnest.
  • (13) Yet, there is no doubt that All Star has been targeted for its specific qualities – the main ones being its feelgood nostalgia value and a laughably exuberant pop-punk style that feels totally earnest.
  • (14) Earnest insisted that a review into the delivery of aid to Egypt had not yet concluded, and said it was "inaccurate to suggest that we've cut off aid to Egypt".
  • (15) I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of an endorsement [by Obama] in the Democratic primary,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said in late August.
  • (16) Earnest, outlining Obama’s longstanding thinking about launching new air strikes in Iraq, noted that protecting US personnel was a core concern for the US president.
  • (17) I was asked to do it, but I thought it would be difficult to stay out of the fight on this, given that I really …” The Guardian view on Labour and Europe: voice of the nation time | Editorial Read more Johnson interrupts himself whenever he feels in danger of saying something that might sound too earnest.
  • (18) To the sound of an acoustic guitar and an earnest vocal, it opens with footage of a lonely Ed Miliband, wandering the dark, deserted streets of Westminster.
  • (19) Saying that he did not know more about the data destruction beyond what has been reported, Earnest said it was "hard for me to evaluate the propriety of that."
  • (20) White House press secretary Josh Earnest framed Clancy’s appointment as “in some ways the best of both worlds”.

Zealous


Definition:

  • (a.) Filled with, or characterized by, zeal; warmly engaged, or ardent, in behalf of an object.
  • (a.) Filled with religious zeal.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Republicans were under pressure not to dwell on Clinton’s use of a private email server as too zealous an attack could come off as partisan.
  • (2) More than 60 officers, who might be investigating a burglary in your street, are zealously pursuing other cops and public officials who may, or may not, have taken bungs from Sun journalists in return for information.
  • (3) His allies charge the prime minister with cowardice for dispatching one of his most zealously reforming ministers.
  • (4) Abaaoud’s older sister, Yasmina, told the New York Times in January that neither of the brothers showed a zealous interest in religion before leaving for Syria.
  • (5) Asked about the plan, Baker said on Monday that "both sides of the coalition" wanted high streets to prosper and that he agreed that over-zealous action by traffic wardens could be a problem.
  • (6) Care must be taken to guard against the health worker being overly zealous in motivating and mobilizing potential voluntary sterilization contraception candidates.
  • (7) Colonel David Black of the Queen's Lancashire Regiment says soldiers need to operate without being worried about "over-zealous and remote officialdom".
  • (8) After a zealous assessment of respective anatomical merits, attention switched to flaws.
  • (9) Those who leave the left are often those who end up detesting it more: becoming a convert often means being more zealous than existing believers.
  • (10) Sutherland said the Co-op bank's bad loans were mostly accounted for by Britannia, with half of all its poorly performing retail loans and three quarters of its roughly £440m corporate bad debts blamed on over-zealous loan agreements sold by the building society.
  • (11) Miller, too, earned Trump’s praise and widespread scorn for his zealous defense of the president and for peddling a baseless claim about phantom illegal voting.
  • (12) Most attempts to humanize medicine have at best been temporary, barely touching the margins of medicine and sustained largely by their zealous advocates.
  • (13) Arteta had been introduced as an early substitute for Coquelin, who hurt his knee in a zealous tackle on Claudio Yacob.
  • (14) In that sense, zealous neoconservatism may not be the cleverest political option, and May's ideas may yet point the way ahead.
  • (15) It has been zealously guarded by the recipients of the letters themselves, and over the last few years, by the full might of the British state and government, as Whitehall has fought every step of the way to stop the Freedom of Information Act disclosure of the letters to Rob Evans of the Guardian.
  • (16) When finally open public welfare was translated into reality during 1918-1933 as a result of the zealous efforts on the part of the reformatory psychiatrists, this was mainly done to save cost, whereas Kolb's original aims were largely lost in the process.
  • (17) Then, one evening, her zealous son accused her of tacitly criticising Mao.
  • (18) They are in the firing line if they do not endorse a zealous world view.
  • (19) They are beaten up and raped daily and it's not because they feel bad about themselves or have been got at by some zealous politically correct propaganda.
  • (20) Behind him lies the zealous, over-confident Dominic Cummings, his special adviser at education – forced out – humiliated at the Treasury select committee when his version of reality collided with its clever Tory chairman, Andrew Tyrie.