Anathema

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Anathema \A*nath"e*ma\, n.; pl. {Anathemas}. [L. anath[e^]ma,
     fr. Gr. ? anything devoted, esp. to evil, a curse; also L.
     anath[=e]ma, fr. Gr. ? a votive offering; all fr. ? to set up
     as a votive gift, dedicate; ? up + ? to set. See {Thesis}.]
     1. A ban or curse pronounced with religious solemnity by
        ecclesiastical authority, and accompanied by


        excommunication. Hence: Denunciation of anything as
        accursed.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              [They] denounce anathemas against unbelievers.
                                                    --Priestley.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. An imprecation; a curse; a malediction.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Finally she fled to London followed by the anathemas
              of both [families].                   --Thackeray.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Any person or thing anathematized, or cursed by
        ecclesiastical authority.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The Jewish nation were an anathema destined to
              destruction. St. Paul . . . says he could wish, to
              save them from it, to become an anathema, and be
              destroyed himself.                    --Locke.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Anathema Maranatha}(see --1 Cor. xvi. 22), an expression
        commonly considered as a highly intensified form of
        anathema. Maran atha is now considered as a separate
        sentence, meaning, "Our Lord cometh."
        [1913 Webster] Anathematic

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  anathema
       n 1: a detested person; "he is an anathema to me" [syn: {bete
            noire}]
       2: a formal ecclesiastical curse accompanied by excommunication

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  51 Moby Thesaurus words for "anathema":
     abhorrence, abomination, antipathy, arraignment, aversion, ban,
     bete noire, blame, blasphemy, bugbear, castigation, censure,
     commination, condemnation, curse, damnation, decrial, denouncement,
     denunciation, detestation, evil eye, excommunication, excoriation,
     execration, flaying, fulmination, fustigation, hate, hex,
     impeachment, imprecation, indictment, leper, malediction, malison,
     malocchio, outcast, pariah, peeve, pet peeve, phobia, pillorying,
     proscription, reprehension, reprobation, reproof, skinning alive,
     stricture, thundering, untouchable, whammy
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Anathema
     anything laid up or suspended; hence anything laid up in a
     temple or set apart as sacred. In this sense the form of the
     word is _anath(ee)ma_, once in plural used in the Greek New
     Testament, in Luke 21:5, where it is rendered "gifts." In the
     LXX. the form _anathema_ is generally used as the rendering of
     the Hebrew word _herem_, derived from a verb which means (1) to
     consecrate or devote; and (2) to exterminate. Any object so
     devoted to the Lord could not be redeemed (Num. 18:14; Lev.
     27:28, 29); and hence the idea of exterminating connected with
     the word. The Hebrew verb (haram) is frequently used of the
     extermination of idolatrous nations. It had a wide range of
     application. The _anathema_ or _herem_ was a person or thing
     irrevocably devoted to God (Lev. 27:21, 28); and "none devoted
     shall be ransomed. He shall surely be put to death" (27:29). The
     word therefore carried the idea of devoted to destruction (Num.
     21:2, 3; Josh. 6:17); and hence generally it meant a thing
     accursed. In Deut. 7:26 an idol is called a _herem_ =
     _anathema_, a thing accursed.
     
       In the New Testament this word always implies execration. In
     some cases an individual denounces an anathema on himself unless
     certain conditions are fulfilled (Acts 23:12, 14, 21). "To call
     Jesus accursed" [anathema] (1 Cor. 12:3) is to pronounce him
     execrated or accursed. If any one preached another gospel, the
     apostle says, "let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8, 9); i.e., let his
     conduct in so doing be accounted accursed.
     
       In Rom. 9:3, the expression "accursed" (anathema) from Christ,
     i.e., excluded from fellowship or alliance with Christ, has
     occasioned much difficulty. The apostle here does not speak of
     his wish as a possible thing. It is simply a vehement expression
     of feeling, showing how strong was his desire for the salvation
     of his people.
     
       The anathema in 1 Cor. 16:22 denotes simply that they who love
     not the Lord are rightly objects of loathing and execration to
     all holy beings; they are guilty of a crime that merits the
     severest condemnation; they are exposed to the just sentence of
     "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord."
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Anathema, separated; set apart
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  ANATHEMA, eccl. law. A punishment by which a person is separate from, the
  body of the church, and forbidden all intercourse with the faithful: it
  differs from excommunication, which simply forbids the person
  excommunicated, from going into the church and communicating with the
  faithful. Gal. 1. 8, 9.