anathema
pronunciation
How to pronounce anathema in British English:
UK [əˈnæθəmə]
How to pronounce anathema in American English:
US [əˈnæθəmə]
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- Noun:
- a detested person
- a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication
Word Origin
- anathema
- anathema: [16] Originally in Greek anáthēma was a ‘votive offering’ (it was a derivative of the compound verb anatithénai ‘set up, dedicate’, formed from the prefix ana- ‘up’ and the verb tithénai ‘place’, source of English theme and related to English do). But from being broadly ‘anything offered up for religious purposes’, the word gradually developed negative associations of ‘something dedicated to evil’; and by the time it reached Latin it meant ‘curse’ or ‘accursed person’.=> do, theme
- anathema (n.)
- 1520s, "an accursed thing," from Latin anathema "an excommunicated person; the curse of excommunication," from Greek anathema "a thing accursed," originally "a thing devoted," literally "a thing set up (to the gods)," from ana- "up" (see ana-) + tithenai "to put, place" (see theme). Originally simply a votive offering, by the time it reached Latin the meaning had progressed through "thing devoted to evil," to "thing accursed or damned." Later applied to persons and the Divine Curse. Meaning "formal act or formula of consigning to damnation" is from 1610s. Anathema maranatha, taken as an intensified form, is a misreading of the Syriac maran etha "the Lord hath come," which follows anathema in I Cor. xvi:22, but is not connected with it (see Maranatha).
Example
- 1. The arab spring is anathema to them .
- 2. Both ideas are anathema to berlin .
- 3. For germany , especially , the idea of a " transfer union " is anathema .
- 4. The idea that we might ration health care to seniors ( or anyone else ) is political anathema .
- 5. As time went on , mises 's name was mentioned less and less at conferences and symposia sponsored by these financially allied institutions and soon became almost anathema .