anathema

5 definitions found

anathema - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  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

anathema - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

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

anathema - Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary :

  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."

anathema - Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) :

  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.
  
  

anathema - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  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