anathema

Meaning

Noun

• A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by ecclesiastical authority, often accompanied by excommunication; something denounced as accursed.
• Something which is vehemently disliked by somebody.
• An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.
• Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by ecclesiastical authority to unending punishment.

Origin

• Borrowed from Late Latin anathema ("curse, person cursed, offering"), itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek ἀνάθεμα ("something dedicated, especially dedicated to eternal damnation"), from ἀνατίθημι, from ἀνά + τίθημι. The Ancient Greek term was influenced by Hebrew חרם, leading to the sense of "accursed," especially in Ecclesiastical writers.