# enthusiast

Pronunciation: say "in-THOO-zee-ast" US /ɪnˈθuziˌɪst/, UK /ɪnˈθuːziˌæst/; AUS say "in-THOO-zee-uhst" /ɪnˈθʊʉziˌəst/

## Noun

1. A person full of eager interest in or excitement about something.
   - Simple: Someone who is very interested in something and enjoys it a lot.
   - _As a lifelong railway enthusiast, she could name every locomotive on the line._
   - _The festival drew enthusiasts from across the country._

## Noun

2. A person who displays excessive or over-zealous religious fervor. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: A person who shows extreme, over-the-top religious feeling.
   - _The bishop dismissed him as a dangerous enthusiast whose visions defied church doctrine._
   - _Clergy of the period warned their congregations against enthusiasts who claimed private revelation._

## Origin

From Ancient Greek enthousiastḗs, meaning an enthusiast or zealot, which comes from the verb enthousiázein, meaning to be inspired or possessed by a god, to be rapt or in ecstasy.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/enthusiast (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).