anathema

[ uh-nath-uh-muh ]
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noun,plural a·nath·e·mas.
  1. a person or thing detested or loathed: That subject is anathema to him.

  2. a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction.

  1. a formal ecclesiastical curse involving excommunication.

  2. any imprecation of divine punishment.

  3. a curse; execration.

Origin of anathema

1
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin, from Greek: “a thing accursed, devoted to evil,” originally “devoted,” from ana(ti)thé(nai) “to set up” + -ma, noun suffix

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British Dictionary definitions for anathema

anathema

/ (əˈnæθəmə) /


nounplural -mas
  1. a detested person or thing: he is anathema to me

  2. a formal ecclesiastical curse of excommunication or a formal denunciation of a doctrine

  1. the person or thing so cursed

  2. a strong curse; imprecation

Origin of anathema

1
C16: via Church Latin from Greek: something accursed, dedicated (to evil), from anatithenai to dedicate, from ana- + tithenai to set

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012