anathematize
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of anathematize
1560–70; (< Middle French ) < Late Latin anathematizāre to put under the ban, curse, detest < Greek anathematízein to bind by a curse, make accursed, equivalent to anathemat- (stem of anáthema ) + -izein -ize
Explanation
The verb anathematize means to completely condemn, something you would do to a mortal enemy or a truly horrible person. If you've decided that your math teacher is just plain evil, you might anathematize him, or curse his name. The word anathematize comes from anathema, which means something you really hate. When you anathematize someone, you declare your hatred for that person. The root word is the Greek anathematizein, which means "to denote something to be evil."
Vocabulary lists containing anathematize
John Leonard on Doris Lessing's "Time Bites" and more
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Nicholas Nickleby
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It is to Mr. Hale’s great credit that he refuses to anathematize the prodigal children in his book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 12, 2026
Should we anathematize communication with half the population?
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2020
This became another reason to anathematize Golden Books, which were for decades shunned by library buyers.
From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2017
When he puts on his travelling habits, he takes off his puritan habits, and makes light of doing things abroad which he would be the first to anathematize at home.
From The International Monthly, Volume 3, No. 3, June, 1851 by Various
Is the word to carry with it license to define in detail an invisible world, and to anathematize and excommunicate those whose trust is different?
From The Will to Believe : and Other Essays in Popular Philosophy by William James
Bayless anathematized James as a diva who was tough when trouncing inferior competition but “soft” when the lights were brightest.
From The New Yorker ● Jun. 18, 2018
BuzzFeed was so anathematized that by presser’s end, fellow journalists were picking up their lunch trays and moving to the other side of the cafeteria.
From Slate ● Jan. 12, 2017
Aksel Sandemose is a 39-year-old Danish novelist who has been acclaimed and anathematized in much the same terms as James Joyce, Celine, Rainer Maria Rilke, Franz Kafka.
From Time Magazine Archive
In the very first session Nestorius was anathematized, deposed, excommunicated.
From Time Magazine Archive
He was a stranger to the greatest glory in life, the flights of a soaring soul, and anathematized them by the words "romance" and "sentimentalism."
From On the Heights A Novel by Berthold Auerbach
In some ways, the grotesqueries of his persona, rather than anathematizing him to voters, only enhanced his appeal among those wishing for something different.
From Slate ● Jan. 24, 2017
Would it be out of order to suggest a cursory glance at past history, sacred and secular, before completely anathematizing Heflin's stand?
From Time Magazine Archive
In Constantinople the Most Holy Patriarch Basil of the Greek Orthodox Church was incensed, last week, to the point of anathematizing the new Albanian Synod.
From Time Magazine Archive
Sometimes it was that last night in Paris—and he went over his farewell, word for word; sometimes it was his wedding day—and he was frantically appealing to Priscilla for forgiveness, and remorsefully anathematizing himself.
From Theo A Sprightly Love Story by Frances Hodgson Burnett
He joined me in anathematizing the careless mate of the Empress and the stupid editor of the Liverpool paper.
From Eleven Possible Cases by Franklin Fyles
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
