The word anathema has two main meanings. One is to describe that something or someone is being hated or avoided. The other refers to a formal excommunication by a church.[1][2][3] These meanings come from the New Testament,[4] where an Anathema was a person or thing cursed or condemned by God.[5] In the Old Testament, an Anathema was something or someone dedicated to God as a sacrifice,[6] or cursed and separated from God because of sin.[7] These represent two types of settings, one for devotion, the other for destruction.[8]
^"Anathema", Grammarist, 15 June 2011, retrieved September 22, 2016, The main definitions of the noun anathema are (1) a detested person or thing, and (2) a formal ecclesiastical ban.
^"Anathema", English Oxford Living Dictionaries, Oxford University Press, archived from the original on September 23, 2016, retrieved September 22, 2016
^"Anathema", Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary, retrieved September 22, 2016
^"Anathema", New Testament Greek Lexicon – KJV, retrieved 15 June 2023, Its meaning in the New Testament is "disfavour of God", and is used both of the sentence of disfavour, as in Acts 23:14, and to the object of God's disfavour, as in the other cited places.