n.
Pronunciation: ə - ' na-th ə -m ə
Function: noun
Etymology: Late Latin anathemat-, anathema, from Greek, thing devoted to evil, curse, from anatithenai to set up, dedicate, from ana- + tithenai to place, set ― more at DO
Date: 1526
1 a : one that is cursed by ecclesiastical authority b : someone or something intensely disliked or loathed ― usually used as a predicate nominative <this notion was anathema to most of his countrymen ― S. J. Gould>
2 a : a ban or curse solemnly pronounced by ecclesiastical authority and accompanied by excommunication b : the denunciation of something as accursed c : a vigorous denunciation : CURSE