anathema.

1. A formal religious curse or declaration condemning or excluding someone or something.

2. A thing or idea regarded with strong rejection or abhorrence.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• pronounce an anathema
• an ecclesiastical anathema
• anathema against a doctrine

On the page

The council pronounced an anathema against the teaching before its defenders could answer.

The letter treated the old anathema as though it still governed the family's name.

Usage notes

Primary category: gothic. Forms: Singular anathema; plural anathemas. Often uncountable in the abhorrence use. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.