fanatic
noun
[ fəˈnatɪk ]
• a person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause.
• "religious fanatics"
Similar:
zealot,
extremist,
militant,
dogmatist,
devotee,
sectarian,
bigot,
chauvinist,
partisan,
radical,
diehard,
ultra,
activist,
apologist,
adherent,
visionary,
maniac,
crank,
freak,
wackadoo,
wackadoodle,
fanatic
adjective
• filled with or expressing excessive zeal.
• "his eyes had a fanatic iciness"
Origin:
mid 16th century (as an adjective): from French fanatique or Latin fanaticus ‘of a temple, inspired by a god’, from fanum ‘temple’. The adjective originally described behaviour that might result from possession by a god or demon, hence the earliest sense of the noun ‘a religious maniac’ (mid 17th century).
