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
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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
They proceeded to anathematize each other, and when induced by friends they met at a conference, each claimed the victory in the argument.
From The Century of Columbus by James J. Walsh
Horace continued rather sulky for the first few miles, and only opened to anathematize, briefly but comprehensively, steeple-chases, tandems, deans and tutors, and "fellows like Hurst."
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 59, No. 363, January, 1846 by Various
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
Two decades later, he found himself at odds with the student movement, anathematized by radicals as a reactionary--the eponymous émigré intellectual of Mr. Sammler's Planet.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Then came the separation: he was anathematized and excommunicated; he burnt--according to the old university custom--the enemy's challenge, and with it the possibility of return.
From Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. I. by Gustav Freytag
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
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
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
The male trespasser spent the next hour in hunting clothes and anathematizing dogs.
From The Wit and Humor of America, Volume V. (of X.) by Marshall Pinckney Wilder
He seemed less disconcerted than Sponge, who kept inwardly anathematizing, not only 'Obin and Ichard,' but 'Diddle, diddle, doubt'—'Bah, bah, black sheep'—the whole tribe of nursery ballads, in short.
From Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour by Robert Smith Surtees
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