anathema
Pluralanathemas (some meanings), anathemata (some meanings)
- 1Something that a person dislikes intensely and cannot bear.
Raising taxes is anathema to most members of the party.
For a chef trained in Paris, serving frozen vegetables would have been anathema.
UsageMostly be anathema to someone, with no article: it is anathema to most voters.
Similarbugbear
Note
Ordinary speech took the church's formal curse and made it a loathing, with a construction of its own: something is anathema to someone, after be and with no article. Some of the curse's force survives, so it names what a person cannot stomach rather than a mild dislike; bête noire and bugbear are its closest neighbors.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- The meaning of intense dislike developed by extension from the ecclesiastical curse. en.wiktionary.org
- 2A formal curse pronounced by a church, often with excommunication; more generally, any solemn curse.
The council closed with an anathema against anyone who taught the condemned doctrine.
Medieval popes sometimes used anathemas to bring rebellious rulers into line.
UsageThe plural is anathemas; some writers keep the Greek anathemata.
Similarcurse
Less common meaning
- 3A person or thing formally cursed or condemned by church authority.
Practice
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Origin
Ancient Greek ἀνατίθημι (anatíthēmi), which meant "I set upon" or "offer as a votive gift," was built from ἀνά (aná, "upon") and τίθημι (títhēmi, "I put, place"). It gave ἀνάθεμα (anáthema, "something dedicated, especially to eternal damnation"). Late Latin borrowed this as anathema ("curse, person cursed, offering"), and English took it from there. Under the influence of Hebrew חרם (herem), the Greek word came to mean "accursed," especially in church writers.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 9 facts
- Ancient Greek ἀνατίθημι meant to set upon or offer as a votive gift. en.wiktionary.org
- ἀνατίθημι combines ἀνα- and τίθημι. en.wiktionary.org
- ἀνά can mean upon. en.wiktionary.org
- τίθημι means to put or place. en.wiktionary.org
- ἀνάθεμα derives from ἀνατίθημι. en.wiktionary.org
- ἀνάθεμα meant something dedicated, especially to eternal damnation. en.wiktionary.org
- English borrowed anathema from Late Latin, which borrowed it from Greek; the Latin meanings included curse, person cursed, and offering. en.wiktionary.org
- The Greek word's negative meaning developed under the influence of Hebrew herem. ccel.org
- The negative sense became established in Christian ecclesiastical usage. en.wikipedia.org