anathema

noun anath·e·ma \ ə-ˈna-thə-mə \

Updated on: 17 Apr 2018

Definition of anathema

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.
—Stephen Jay 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

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Examples of anathema in a Sentence

Maugham was not only prolific but also a best-seller, though snobs dismissed his work as middlebrow (a category that few people worry about in our day but that once was anathema). —Edmund White, New York Review of Books, 12 Feb. 2009
While everything pointed to an immense flood, Bretz knew such a notion would be anathema to his fellow geologists. In part that was because the quantity of water needed for such a flood would exceed the flow of all the world's modern rivers combined. —Richard Lovett, New Scientist, 21-27 Apr. 2007
Big Jeff was devoted to Purcell. He haunted his room and patiently endured his abuse just to sit in the corner and watch him shave or do push-ups or dress for dinner, and listen to him pronounce his opinions and anathemas. —Tobias Wolff, Old School, 2003
For all the artistic wonders it has preserved, the Holy Mountain is not a museum, and the idea of playing host to sightseers is anathema to the monks. Male visitors of all faiths are welcome, but they come as pilgrims, not tourists, and only 110 "residence permits" are issued each day by patristic officials in Ouranoupolis. —Nicholas Basbanes, Smithsonian, August 1999
a politician who is anathema to conservatives
ideas that are an anathema to me

Recent Examples of anathema from the Web

The argument that pro golfers are playing for vast sums of money -- or, indeed, their futures on tour -- and therefore have every right to take their time is anathema to some.

— ben dirs for cnn, CNN, "Golf's slow play row rumbles on, but is there a quick fix?," 23 Mar. 2018
This neon oasis in the desert is continuing a steady progression from hosting legal gambling on professional sports to welcoming professional sports in the city, an idea that for decades was anathema to the suits in big-league boardrooms.

— mike hembree, USA TODAY, "Las Vegas gambles on becoming a big league sports town," 3 Mar. 2018
Turkey’s government has long faced an insurgency from within the restive Kurdish population that straddles the border, so any bolstering of Kurdish military strength is anathema to Turkey.

— carlotta gall, New York Times, "On Turkey’s Border With Syria, Many Are Eager for War," 26 Jan. 2018
At the same time, the Arnolds have funded causes that are anathema to some on the left.

— rebecca robbins, STAT, "A billionaire couple is pumping money into the drug pricing debate. Can they loosen pharma’s grip?," 26 Mar. 2018
Exporting fuel, another tenet of Trump's energy and economic policy, is also anathema to Navarro's worldview, said a source close to the administration.

— robin bravender, Scientific American, "A "Pit Bull" for Climate Could Soon Sit Next to Trump," 8 Mar. 2018
Other countries with high inflation, like Zimbabwe and Ecuador, have escaped by adopting the dollar, which would be anathema to Mr Maduro’s regime.

— The Economist, "Venezuela's crypto-currency: salvation or scam?," 17 Mar. 2018
Many Irish Americans have adopted his brand of nativism, as well as an every-man-for-himself faith in the market and a tight-heartedness that would have been anathema to our grandparents.

— eileen markey, The New Republic, "What Happened to Irish America?," 16 Mar. 2018
At the same time, the primary votes that went to O’Rourke are unlikely to go to Cruz in the general election, since the Republican’s views are anathema to Democratic values.

— peggy fikac, San Antonio Express-News, "Ted Cruz not taking Beto O’Rourke’s challenge for granted," 11 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'anathema.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History of anathema

The Greek root of anathema originally meant simply “a thing devoted” or “an offering,” and in the Old Testament it could refer to either revered objects or objects representing destruction brought about in the name of the Lord, such as the weapons of an enemy. Since the enemy’s objects therefore became symbols of what was reviled or unholy, the neutral meaning of “a thing devoted” became “a thing devoted to evil” or “curse.”

In Latin, it could refer to both an excommunication and the person who has been excommunicated.

In the early Church, anathema was used interchangeably with excommunication and to refer to unrepentant heretics. It then came to mean the severest form of excommunication in official church writings. When the authority of Rome was split in the Great Schism between Eastern and Western churches in 1054, an anathema was issued by Rome against the Eastern Patriarch who then issued another one against the cardinal who delivered it.

The History of anathema Is Contradictory

Historically, anathema can be considered a one-word oxymoron. When it first appeared in English in 1526, it was used to refer to something accursed. Shortly thereafter, however, people also began to use it to refer to something consecrated to divine use—generally a good thing. Why the contradiction? Anathema comes from Greek, where it initially meant "anything devoted" and later "anything devoted to evil." The "consecrated to divine use" sense of anathema comes from that earlier Greek use but is not widely used today.

Origin and Etymology of anathema

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

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First Known Use: 1582

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