anathema

[ uh-nath-uh-muh ]

/ əˈnæθ ə mə /

a person or thing detested or loathed: That subject is anathema to him.

a person or thing accursed or consigned to damnation or destruction.

a formal ecclesiastical curse involving excommunication.

any imprecation of divine punishment.

a curse; execration.

Origin of anathema

1520–30; < Latin < Greek: a thing accursed, devoted to evil, orig. devoted, equivalent to ana(ti)thé(nai) to set up + -ma noun suffix

After a few experiments I learned that I could skip those movies, and Tyler Perry was anathema in my book.

Prisoners Get Cultural Fix with 8-Tracks and Bootleg Cassettes |Daniel Genis |August 18, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
American politics with its razzmatazz and movie stars were an anathema.

The Ugly Truth About Ugly Politicians |Tim Teeman |July 26, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
In his opinion, the “path to citizenship” for immigrants, which is anathema to many conservatives, is absolutely essential.

Cardinal O'Malley: Pope Francis Knows Immigrants Are the Future of the Church |Christopher Dickey |June 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The occasional yellow or red was acceptable, but the suggestion of a blue dress was met with distress, and brown was anathema.

Why I Finally Let My Girls Be Girly |Andy Hinds |May 17, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Government regulations were not anathema to the market but requisite.

Obamacare Is as American as the Founding Fathers |Sally Kohn |April 1, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Lilies of the valley are lovely in proper surroundings, but on a dinner-table they are anathema.

The Cook's Decameron: A Study in Taste: |Mrs. W. G. Waters
It was anathema, he knew, but he could not refuse to accept it.

Carmen Ariza |Charles Francis Stocking
They listened with the calm of people for whom anathema, reprobation, malediction, and execration were their daily bread.

The Miracle Of The Great St. Nicolas |Anatole France
Believe or die is the anathema which vehement spirits pronounce, and this in the name of Liberty.

The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 2 (of 6) |Hippolyte A. Taine
Since Cobbett uttered his anathema against the root, it never was in such bad odour.

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 70, No. 434, December, 1851 |Various

anathema

/ (əˈnæθəmə) /

a detested person or thing he is anathema to me

a formal ecclesiastical curse of excommunication or a formal denunciation of a doctrine

the person or thing so cursed

a strong curse; imprecation

C16: via Church Latin from Greek: something accursed, dedicated (to evil), from anatithenai to dedicate, from ana- + tithenai to set